Trail Rail System - installation

[DenverGladiator]

I have a Sport S and finally got the trail rail system delivered today. I went to install it and struggled to get the screws into the holes (go ahead with the wife jokes, I’ll wait).

I have a spray-in bedliner from Line-X, not a factory liner. I tried widening the holes, but that didn’t appear to be the problem as the screws would only go about half way in. Anyone else have this issue, anything obvious I’m overlooking, any helpful suggestions?

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[Gren71]

I had a hard time with my factory bed liner when i was installing mine. Fortunately i was able to carve away the excess material to make room for the bolts. The first time i threaded them they were a pain, almost felt like it was stripping the bolt. But i guess it was just a little left over material inside the threads. They all ended up going in without a hitch.

 

[TravisH88]

I just dealt with the same thing yesterday. I stuck a flat head inside and spun it in circles to break away the first bit and then tried to clean it out with a old tooth brush. Then I threaded in a bolt by itself. It will bind up a little but if you keep going smoothly it breaks free and loosens up the rest of the way. Then I took out the bolt, cleaned the hole and bolt threads with the toothbrush and repeated for each hole. THEN the stupid rivnut or nutsert or whatever spun like it sounds like it does for most so you need to go out and get another bolt with a nut to hold it in place while you set it. Another post explains this with pictures better than I am.

 

[4esop]

I have a similar issue to OP on mine where the screws go in half way even after clearing things out with a smaller drill bit. The screws still need to travel about half an inch before they secure the bar. Did you ever resolve this issue?

 

[Tim]

I don't have much to add to what the others have already said. If you're sure the bolt is not cross threaded then try to run it in a bit further and then back it out. Repeat that process a few times and it should loosen up the bed liner material. Backing the bolts out periodically will allow the loosened bed liner to clear out of the threads. This will make it much easier to thread them in completely.

 

[4esop]

I don't have much to add to what the others have already said. If you're sure the bolt is not cross threaded then try to run it in a bit further and then back it out. Repeat that process a few times and it should loosen up the bed liner material. Backing the bolts out periodically will allow the loosened bed liner to clear out of the threads. This will make it much easier to thread them in completely.

Yeah it goes in smoothly for a while then it becomes very difficult to turn, so I'm pretty sure it's not cross threaded. All of my screws are this way, so I'm thinking the bed liner is just in the threads. What if I have an M6 tap? Wouldn't that be better than jamming the gunk into the threads? I'd expose bare metal though so I'd need to coat it with something.

 

[Black_Widow_Overland]

My bed was factory bed lined. I had to take a tap to each hole and clean them out and that made it easier to but bolts in.

 

[4esop]

So to update my install. I got it done. All installed and torqued to spec.

When I decided to tap it I found out I needed and m5 instead of a 6 and so the bit was smaller. I went to clear out the hole and realized it acted like a great file for the edges of the liner. I just used the bit like a file and then worked the screws in and out. I had to turn them pretty hard and there was a heavy resistance point after which things became much smoother.

The funny part was I thought the nutserts would be a pain but they were very easy beacuse I could just put them in and didn't need the elaborate setup to prevent them from turning because the bedliner provides enough friction to keep them steady.

 

[mzeblue]

Thanks for sharing this. I’m getting mine sprayed next week. I am thinking I will install bolts prior to the spray to make it easier to add the rails later.

 

[Factoid]

You need a thread chaser, not a tap. You can make one easily by taking a spare bolt, preferably longer than normal and using a dremel or cutoff wheel to make three deep grooves perpendicular to the threads and equally spaced around the bolt diameter. It will look similar to a tap, but unlike most taps has full threads to the end. Thread it in and out several times and it will clean the threads nicely.

 

[Racer_X]

Just put mine in yesterday, w/o bed liner. I think I'll ask the shop doing the liner to reinstall all the parts

 

[Papalecki]

Thanks for sharing this. I’m getting mine sprayed next week. I am thinking I will install bolts prior to the spray to make it easier to add the rails later.

I had the company who did the line x install the trail rail - they charged me less than 1 hour of labor to do it.

 

[Racer_X]

They should charge less than an hour! It takes about 20 minutes. Any time over that would be due to overspray/cleanout.

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