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Gladiator bed durability

Paden501

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Somehow this became a thread about Bed liner products but getting back to your initial question, the bed is plenty strong. As other have mentioned it’s made of steel other than the tailgate which is aluminum. The only other things to watch out for in the bed is that if you get the 120v inverter and plug, it is a plastic plug and cover, and obviously the bed lights that most factory trucks come with now are plastic and could get smashed.

I’ve hauled plenty of firewood in mine so far and it’s done just fine. I did notice that like pretty much every other truck the factory paint in the bed is prone to scratching almost immediately so some sort of Bed liner is recommended (pick your poison). I went with Rhino because there is a local guy who sprays it and does a very high quality job, and it’s done extremely well for me thus far.

here’s a pic of us loading part of the bed with firewood the other day in prep for a cookout. Obviously you can load it up a lot more than what’s shown here.

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trust

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Any suggestions for removing factory spray in bedliner from the factory rail holes and captive nuts? I don't want to drill them out and install rivnuts or something akin. Simply retap them? Are they 6mm?

Thanks
 

Paden501

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You might get away with running a bolt through them, but you'd be better off chasing them with a tap.

The holes in the front of the bed that mount a tonneau are M8, and I believe that the rail system bolts are either M8 or M6.
 

xpcdoojk

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Yup, I'll be getting the bedliner.
So, I got the Linex upgraded slick bedliner and it is so much nicer than the regular factory bedliner. It was about $100 more, but you hose it down and it cleans up. Doesn’t tear your pants when you crawl around on it. Only way to go.

jc
 

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sarcasm

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I have had both kinds of bed liners. I got the factory spray in with the Gladiator. I really prefer the spray in over a drop in but the one use case for the drop in that might make it better would be Firewood. You can throw it in the bed and not worry about it. The negative to drop-ins is stuff slides around a lot easier. (Which in some cases could be a plus). You could do a spray with a mat.
 

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Thank you gents. I definitely do not want to have to extract broken bolts.... I'll check out theother thread
 

whiteglad

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I used the sets of two threaded holes on the sides near the back (close to the love 419). I tapped them first, carefully so as not to cross-thread. The holes I have seen were M6 x 1.0. I tried to use an exacto knife to cut away some of the factory bed liner at the holes, but not much luck there.
 

trust

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Thanks whiteglad
 

Empty Pockets

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The holes are M6X1. I ran bolts into mine prior to spraying. The spray guys picked up on what I was doing and masked off the bolt heads then cleaned up the coating before it set. AWESOME!
If your tapped holes are gunked up, I suggest gently running the proper drill in at slow speed. (The right drill is .236“ did, or 5mm). This will remove the majority of the crud without affecting the threads. Then turn the tap in BY HAND with a tap wrench. Be careful, the tap can crossthread if you aren’t on the ball.
 

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trust

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Thanks empty pockets. Had I been able to get mine sans factory berliner I'd have protected the holes and threads before getting it sprayed but fca didnt bother.

I bought a 6mm tap today and have chased all of them already and will probably get something up this weekend. I'm wrestling between unistrut like stuff or the Macs alum channels with the push button anchor rings. I have the later and a bunch of rings but of course the holes will all need refilling as the rail holes dont line up at all. I have strut too already but very few nuts left and they may also need drilling out....

Thanks for the help guys!
 

Bobzdar

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The factory bedliner is extremely durable in my experience. I do not take it easy with it, have hauled forewood, dragged metal (old dishwasher) across it and abused the tailgate with only some marks on the plastic tailgate cap and outlet cover to show for it. That's a 300+lb 24' rough cut 4x12 hanging off the tailgate.

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