there looks to be 3 bolts going through it but they have a rounded head and are almost flush with the rail. i can feel threads if i smash my fingers up behind it but can't figure out how to losen them.

any ideas?

 

Carriage bolts. There should be a nut and lock washer on the back side. Contort yourself around so you can have a look, or, better yet, grab a mirror.

 

Sometimes the best way to remove a bolt is to grind the head off; especially carriage bolts like that, where you can't grip the head very well. Yeah, the heads have little square spots on them that help to keep the heads from turning, but if the nuts are rusted on, the head will usually spin before the nuts busts loose, or the bolts breaks.

Just carefully grind the heads down until you see a little circle appear; that circle indicates that you've removed all of the metal that connects the head of the bolt to the rest of the bolt. Then you can just smack the bolt free from the head with a punch and hammer.

I like to use an air die grinder with a 3" x 1/16" cutting wheel, or maybe two of them stacked together. A smaller wheel like that lessens your chances of grinding something other than the bolt head. A 4 1/2" angle grinder will work fine too if you're careful.

 

So of like removing a rivet.

1:Center punch to top of the bolt dead center
2 Drill bit size bigger then the bolt shaft, drill most of the way through the top of the bolt
3: Punch out the rest of the bolt

 

That works too.

 

too much work just to see what condition the bed is in! i just wanted to look at it to make sure there are no surprises waiting to greet me

 

Is there a plastic bedliner in there now? If so, haul it out of there while you still have a bed. I hate those things. Better off with nothing; best off with a good quality spray-on liner.

 

yup. and i was thinking the same thing. it holds a lot of water and debris under it. but i gotta pop those bolts off first since 2 of them are holding the liner down near the gate.

 

Well let's get those bad boys outta there then, and yank out that POS

 

I took mine off to put on my tonneau cover.... Just all scratched up from where stuff got between them and the bed top...