I'm in the process of changing my fuel pump. I was going the route which requires me to take off the bed. I got 5/6 of the bolts holding the bed down off. The last bolt holding it down is a tid bit rounded so I can't get it with the breaker bar. The impact wrench grabs hold but just doesn't have enough juice.

My status right now is frustrated! My impact wrench isn't strong enough to budge it. With my technical expertise or lack thereof I see 3 options and I'm sure someone has some better ideas.

1. Get a stronger impact wrench.
2. get a torch and warm it (which i'm highly opposed to being that close to my fuel tank!)
3. Cut the head off with a grinder.

the other 5 bolts were very hard to get out as well, I'll have to get a tap and see if the threads are still usable. Or perhaps go a size bigger.

 

heat is your friend. torch that sucker and blast it out.

 

I would use a Reverse drill bit, it could break it loose while drilling, vibration and heat, but doubtful in this case.
Pop off the head then lift off the bed and see what you have left to work with

 

If it is a passenger side bolt or not near the tank then heat is good but otherwise cut it off.
The nut portion is already screwed up on that one and will need replacement, in fact if all the bolt came out hard then all of the nuts should be replaced, maybe the bolts too.

When I replaced my bed I had to cut off two of the bolts and used all Ford replacements but if I were to do it again I would use standard hex head bolts, maybe either use the ford Nuts or get a similar replacement, stainless steel would be good or a lot of anti-seize.

 

Torch the nut on the bottom of the bed not the bolt. Apply PB blaster before and let it soak. Use MAPP gas or acetylene.

 

Cold chisel could take off the head. With bed off you could finish the extraction. Wouldn't hurt to replace all the bolts. AutoZone sells them as a set of 6. $75 for 6 bolts. That's why I haven't rebolted my bed yet. My Ranger has 1 broken bolt, and 2 that are "loose but don't spin." I need to look for a big bit that fits the head and "deal" with mine properly.

 

I recently had problem with a bolt holding the front sway bar bracket to the frame - PB Blaster, an impact wrench and a breaker bar couldn't budge it. A friend who owns a body shop brought home a (very expensive) tool that did the trick - it's an electronic system with a what I believe is transformer in the handle and various lengths and shapes of heavy "moldable" wire that are inserted into the handle. The wire is molded or wrapped around the bolt head and the ends are inserted into the handle. Electric current passes through the wire, heating the bolt (if left on long enough, until it is literally cherry red). Apparently the beauty of this system is that it concentrates the heat entirely on the bolt without heating the surrounding area significantly. All I can say is that it worked, and when I got the bolt out, the heat had burned all the crap off it - it was pristine. . .

 

I ended up cutting the head off with an angle grinder. Didn't have anyone to help me tow it to a welder or any torches available. Did scuff up my bed a bit. It seems the bolts secure into the chassis on some little clips so i'll just get new clips and bolts, alot easier than I thought it would be.

 

When you replace the bolts do not forget the anti-seize on the thread, a must do for future removal.