2022 Bed extender

[alockbox]

So did your plusnuts / cross nuts work out?

I solved this long ago with the same conclusion but never did find ones that could grip. My regular Rivnuts barely held.

I recently got this divider to fit into my 250, it’s the divider that keeps on giving, due to its flexible design. It actually works great but I want to solve the issue and be able to remove it without removing the taillights.

I know about being stubborn. I once designed and 3d printed my own custom knurled metric bolt caps with embedded hex head just to make it so I didn’t have to keep a torx head and socket wrench in the cab for some crossbars. They could easily be 1/4 turned with a cheap Allen key; then hand removed in about 30 seconds vs all the struggling with a torx in a tiny space confined on three sides so you got one click of the ratchet at a time.

Anyway I’m seeing what look like large flange Rivnuts all over Amazon but they are known to just insert keyword searches into the product title to get a click. I’d rather just solve this and be done.

As a side note, duplicolor trim paint really works a wonder on these. I painted each half earlier today and they are back to looking almost brand new.

Reviving an old thread since it is still relevant.
Adding one of the much cheaper third party stowable bed extenders. It arrived today.

Hardware is M10-1.5 so I was hoping to use rivnuts that I have on-hand. Not so good. The hole in the bed measures 14.5mm with factory spray-in liner. That is about 10% too large to get good purchase with my regular rivnuts. The flange is only 17mm.

After way too much searching, I found better inserts that are actually in-stock. Yes, I could pop the tail lights off, but I am stubborn. I ordered part samples # AESM10P7.1PBZYR from Crest Fasteners PennEngineering. Price is crazy with shipping, but again, stubborn. These are considered "cross nuts" or "plus nuts". The surface area for purchase is greater (22.2mm flange) but some report that they are likely to spin out under torque. Not a huge issue when the whole joint is intended to pivot. It should never really experience significant torque.

For reference, these are expecting a drilled hole of about 15.1mm, so I will probably file a small amount of the liner from inside the hole. Or maybe find a 19/32 bit in a drawer.

I may wait for my niece to visit to complete the install so I can introduce her to some tools that she normally wouldn't get to play with. If all goes well - or not - I will report back.

Edit: Ordered samples directly from manufacturer. Crest lied about stock, sat on the order for 10 days (ignoring chat support twice), and then asked for a higher minimum order quantity.

Sponsored