Bed Liners - Montana Owners Club

scrowba · 02-26-2005, 12:59 PM

Ok, The quest goes on, First the 3685FL, Then the King Ranch, Today the 16K SuperGlide hitch, Now the Bed Liner for the truck. Looking at the Line-X liner, the question is... Do you have the holes drilled into the bed for the hitch and plug first or get it sprayed first and then drill? If you don't mind, what did you do and why.
Thanks again...
Karl

GordonR · 02-26-2005, 01:30 PM

Karl - I'm not sure about the Line-X, but I had a Rhino Liner sprayed on before the hitch was installed. They drilled right through the liner and bed. It's a lot cleaner looking than if it had been a drop in liner and they would have had to cut a piece out for the hitch rails. I didn't have to plug the drainage holes in the bed. The dealer did it as part of the process. The whole thing looks good and the bed drains well from all drain holes.
Gordon

jsmitfl · 02-26-2005, 01:47 PM

Had bed sprayed with Rhino first then added rails. The Rhino ppl drill your drain holes bigger before they spray it.

Native Tex · 02-26-2005, 02:13 PM

Karl - we have the Line-X installed the day we bought our new King Ranch. They removed the bolts from the bed, sprayed in the liner, let it dry overnight, replaced all the bed bolts, and then the RV dealer swapped the hitch from our old Ford to the new one. They just drilled right through the liner. It looks really great and the Line-X dealer did a very neat and quality job on the liner.

Montana_2785 · 02-26-2005, 02:24 PM

I had my Line-X liner applied when I got the truck. This was a full 18 months before we were even thinking about a 5th wheel. I have the PulRite hitch with the super rails. It is nice since I can remove the rails completely when I take the hitch out of the truck.

Eric

stiles watson · 02-26-2005, 02:29 PM

I concur, liner, then hitch.

Montana Sky · 02-26-2005, 02:32 PM

Will agree with the rest, liner then hitch.

sreigle · 02-26-2005, 02:54 PM

As I understand it, it can be done either way but I think the liner people prefer to do the liner first. Probably less work for them in prepping it. We've had the Rhino Liner in three trucks now. Should be basically the same process. The first was done after I bought the truck. The liner people asked me to hold off installing the hitch until after the liner was installed and cured. The second and third trucks had the rhino liner installed by the Ford dealer where we bought the truck. They also said they wanted to do the liner first. If you have a choice, I think I'd have the liner done first. They recommended three days to fully cure before installing the hitch. LineX ought to be about the same I'd think.

Bowie · 02-26-2005, 02:59 PM

Liner then hitch worked for us. It has made for a nice tidy functional operation.

Charlie · 02-26-2005, 03:15 PM

Liner first then the hitch. I did request that after the holes were drilled to seal the exposed sheet metal with primer before installing the bolts to prevent rust.

c5racer · 02-26-2005, 04:08 PM

I had the hitch installed first, then I removed the hitch and had linex installed. That way the holes that were drilled in the bed have linex in them. Just screwed some old bolts in he hitch holes to keep them clean. Maybe a little overkill. You don't have to wait for linex to cure, put hitch back in the same day.

Wordsmith · 02-27-2005, 01:30 PM

Glad I found this message. When I bought my new truck last week, my Ford dealer suggested to have the hitch put in first--going to have the bed liner sprayed at the dealership. I intend to call the local dealer to schedule the installation of the hitch, so I will be sure to ask what they recommend and schedule both accordingly.

jpkelpe · 02-27-2005, 02:08 PM

we just got the linex put into our new truck. they told us they preferred to put the liner in before the hitch, because they would have to take the hitch out when they put in the liner--would cost labor for them to take hitch out and put back in.

DCP · 03-01-2005, 04:15 AM

Eric, how easy is it to remove your hitch with the super rails? I am thinking on getting this same setup.

Bill Hill · 03-01-2005, 09:32 AM

We had our box sprayed right after we bought our truck, and as Eric said, it was months before we thought to go to a 5er from a TT. Even though we got the SuperGlide with the SuperRail, I haven't needed to take it out yet, spending too much time pulling the rig!

Montana_2785 · 03-01-2005, 11:17 AM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by DCP

Eric, how easy is it to remove your hitch with the super rails? I am thinking on getting this same setup.

Well, so far I've only removed the hitch once. Haven't taken the rails out yet. Taking the hitch out was very easy. Putting the pins back in was a little "fiddly" as the tolerance for lining up the holes is very close. That's OK since it helps reduce the Monty from banging forward & backwards

. Also, after looking at the Reese hitch jaws v.s. PulRite jaws, I'll go with PulRite. It looks more fool proof.

The rails are held in place by locking pins that go through the REALLY BIG pins that stick down through the bed into the mongo sized brackets that bolt to the sides of the truck frame. Once the rail is off, the REALLY BIG pins are removed after giving them a 1/4 turn. I'm in the same situation as Bill Hill, haven't really needed to remove the entire thing yet. But I like the fact that I can have a completely clean bed if I need it.

Eric

1putt · 03-01-2005, 04:19 PM

DCP and Eric, I've never timed it, but I'd guess it takes 10 min or less to fully remove the Pull-Rite hitch. I do it by myself but it helps to have a second person .It is a little cumbersome to lift the main portion alone. I did the spray in liner first, then the hitch. I love this set up, completely open bed when needed.

Montana_2785 · 03-01-2005, 04:24 PM

Quote:

quote:Originally posted by 1putt

[...]It is a little cumbersome to lift the main portion alone. I did the spray in liner first, then the hitch. [...]

When I took the hitch out, I removed the hitch head first. That lightened it up quite a bit.

Eric

sreigle · 03-02-2005, 02:34 PM

Wordsmith, the Ford dealer we bought the current truck from both sprayed the Rhino liner and installed the hitch in our new truck. He sprayed first, let it cure three days, then put in the hitch.

Wordsmith · 03-03-2005, 11:40 AM

Steve, I left the truck with the Ford dealer tonight, who will put a LineX version in tomorrow morning. I talked to the guy who will spray the bed, and since I am taking the truck next week to the local Montana dealer to install the Pullrite, he suggested that I have them put a black grout in the holes they drill to minimize any possibility of rust.

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