Fifth Wheel Mounting Rails

[SilverRhino]

My hitch was installed in my truck 8 years ago.....rails have never been removed.....original mounting bolts.

I know this may sound crazy, but, should the bolts be removed and replaced periodically?? My concern would be rust / corrosion.

Anybody ever thought of this??

Another question about the mounting rails:

If you have the bed sprayed with a liner....do you leave the rails in and spray around them OR do you remove them and then re-install over the spray liner?

I know......I have way too much time on my hands

 

[2010augusta]

My hitch was installed in my truck 8 years ago.....rails have never been removed.....original mounting bolts.

I know this may sound crazy, but, should the bolts be removed and replaced periodically?? My concern would be rust / corrosion.

Anybody ever thought of this??

Another question about the mounting rails:

If you have the bed sprayed with a liner....do you leave the rails in and spray around them OR do you remove them and then re-install over the spray liner?

I know......I have way too much time on my hands

I would believe that the rails are installed with a very good quality of hardware, so unless you replace every bolt on the truck periodically, they should be fine, just re-torque if concerned.

As far as the spray-in liner question, you can do it either way. When I was spraying trucks commercially, I preferred to leave the rails in the bed and mask them off. The spray-in lining is not suppose to compress over time, but it is better to play it safe. Anyways, if you ever remove the rails after the lining is sprayed in, it will require a touch-up either way.