ford super duty truck bed problem
Just before Labor Day, I thought that I would clean out the normal dirt, dust and stuff under the rubber floor of my 2012 F250. Found a hole thru the bed to the center support rail, about the size of a 50 cent piece, and the beginnings of another hole across on the other side, same rail, just above the tires. Found a sub culture online, of people with similar problems on Ford super duty trucks with steel beds. If you are in a salt brine area, you might want to inspect your rails. Ford also put a thin piece of rubber above the rail, against the bottom of the bed, which I suspect held the water and brine against the bottom of the bed. The front of the bed on the passenger side, is also about 1/2 inch lower than the driver side. The bed had bent a little. So, after talking with my guru mechanic, he suggested sistering in some substancial box steel in 2 or 3 places next to the suspect rails, instead of the replacement rails, so I can get some beef back and more, and inspect the floor. This is the first 250 of our 3 where this was a problem. I have always cleaned the frame and bottom of things frequently, so beware and inspect your steel bed rails. I looked at the new super duty catalog and they mentioned using a heavier gage aluminum, different from the first generation of aluminum beds. We are about a year or two from getting a new truck, so if Ford is beefing up things. NOS beds are $3000 without shipping. I will let people know if this fix works out. The replacement rail kits are about $400, but the steel looks a little weak for 3000 lbs. on top of it.
