Today on this 2009 GMC Sierra pickup we are going to install part number RP50064-58. To get started, we need to do a few things in preparation. First off what we are going to do is lower the spare tire so we have some working room underneath there. And second, we are going to go ahead and remove the heat shield. Now we are not going to take out the whole thing. We just need to take out a section of it. Cut it right behind the second to last cross member. This one has a round tube that goes across on the frame. So we will cut right in front of that. And then, further up above the muffler here, we are going to make a cut right next to the hat channel for the bed itself. And then, we will go ahead and remove these two bolts right here and lower the whole thing down. Now if you cannot get these bolts loose, you will probably just have to cut on both sides of the hat channel to remove both pieces then. 1:08
OK, now we are back in the bed of the truck. What we are going to do now is go ahead and mark out the rails in our floor of the bed of the truck. Now what we are going to do is measure from this inside edge here to the edge of the bed itself. Now we will go ahead and make sure we have left to right equal too. There is a little seam in the bed right here. We will just use that as our reference point. Alright, so we have an equal amount of distance on both sides and we are equal front to rear. So let us go ahead and mark and drill our holes. Since we have a spry in bed liner here, it is kind of hard to mark it with a pen or something like that. So, we are just going to use a small drill bit and just make a dent into it that way. And now that we have our holes marked, let us go ahead and remove the rail out of the way. We will drill out a pilot hole first and then we will go ahead and compare it with the bracket that gets mounted on the side of the frame. Alright, let us go ahead and take our frame bracket now. And this larger section right here is going to go towards the front of the vehicle. You can see here that is has a curve to it, or a rise. This kit is designed to fit on multiple frames of the Chevrolet product line. In this case, our frame does not really rise up that much. So what is going to happen is we will end up putting spacers in between the frame and the frame bracket. We are just going to hold it up there for now just to see how things line up. We have our holes lined up with the bed up here. And then one of these three holes will line up with the hole in the frame. In this case, it is going to be using this top hole right here. Let us go ahead and drill out our holes to the 9/16 size. And then we can go ahead and start working on the frame brackets. 2:51
The next thing we do is go ahead and put our rail back into place. And then we are going to put some spacer blocks between the bed and the rail itself, to fill up this gap right here. We will in our bolts later. Let us go back underneath and start installing our side brackets. The first thing we need to do is go ahead and install this 3/4 inch bolt right here. And we are going to install it into this oval hole here. At first, it is not going to fit. To do that we are going to take the bolt leader that is included in the kit. We are going to put it into the frame. We are going to push it out to the back of the frame where it opens up. First we will go ahead and put on our washer. Then we will thread in our bolt. And let us go ahead and pull everything through. We will leave the bolt leader on for now and then we will go ahead and slide on our frame bracket. Alright, just do not pull this off. You want to unthread it because you are going to do the same thing over on the driver side. Alright, next what we are going to do is go ahead and install the clamp that goes around the frame towards the front. These are the two carriage bolts we are going to use. And these are going to be the two spacers we are going to use. The spacers are going to be identical. What is going to happen is one spacer is going to go on the back side of the frame and one is going to go in between the frame and the frame bracket. We will use this top hole, like so. And that is going to sit on top of the frame. And we will take this other block and set it on like that. See if we can sneak it behind there. So we are going to use the two narrowest holes because the frame is not going to be that thick. Then we will go ahead and put on our fasteners which will be a flat washer, a lock washer and a nut. Now we are just going to leave those pretty loose because we want to be able to move the bracket around as needed to get the bolts from the bed down. We will go ahead and repeat the same process on the driver side. However, we are going to do a little bit of an adjustment with the brake lines. 5:01
Now you see here on the driver side we have this bracket that is going to hold the brake lines and the wiring harness. However, we are going to have to remove this because our bracket is going to go right behind it. So, basically what we are going to do is just take this off, this bracket. We are going to manipulate the lines out of the way so there is plenty of room. So we have a little bit of flexibility. And then we will go ahead and resecure them after we have the hitch installed. What I am going to do now is just go ahead and our bolts into place. Alright, now that we have our bolts through the bed and in to the frame bracket itself, what we are going to do is install a flat block. On the bottom of that we are going to install a lock washer and nut. And you want to repeat this for the other three set of holes. Now the next thing we are going to do is go ahead and line up our second rail. And we are going to use our fifth wheel hitch here to go ahead and use that to line it up in the proper position. When you set it in place, go ahead and take a little bit of time and kind of shake it around a little bit so it finds an overall center. We have our rail in position. Let us go ahead and do the same thing like we did for the front rail. And we will just go ahead and drill our holes and then work our way up to the 9/16. And now you can see our frame bracket here in relation to our holes that we drilled out here. Pull it up and over and it looks like it will fit just fine. That way we have confirmed that we have it in the right spot. We can go ahead and drill out the larger holes now. Alright, let us go ahead and put our rail back in place and then some bolts in. Let us go back underneath again and go ahead and install the plates, the lock washers and the nuts. Now one last thing. Remember how the rail was sitting on top of the corrugation? Well we have a big gap here at the bottom now. So we will use those blocks and just put them into place like that. 7:05
Now you see here on the driver side we have this bracket that is going to hold the brake lines and the wiring harness. However, we are going to have to remove this because our bracket is going to go right behind it. So, basically what we are going to do is just take this off, this bracket. We are going to manipulate the lines out of the way so there is plenty of room. So we have a little bit of flexibility. And then we will go ahead and resecure them after we have the hitch installed. What I am going to do now is just go ahead and our bolts into place. Alright, now that we have our bolts through the bed and in to the frame bracket itself, what we are going to do is install a flat block. On the bottom of that we are going to install a lock washer and nut. And you want to repeat this for the other three set of holes. Now the next thing we are going to do is go ahead and line up our second rail. And we are going to use our fifth wheel hitch here to go ahead and use that to line it up in the proper position. When you set it in place, go ahead and take a little bit of time and kind of shake it around a little bit so it finds an overall center. We have our rail in position. Let us go ahead and do the same thing like we did for the front rail. And we will just go ahead and drill our holes and then work our way up to the 9/16. And now you can see our frame bracket here in relation to our holes that we drilled out here. Pull it up and over and it looks like it will fit just fine. That way we have confirmed that we have it in the right spot. We can go ahead and drill out the larger holes now. Alright, let us go ahead and put our rail back in place and then some bolts in. Let us go back underneath again and go ahead and install the plates, the lock washers and the nuts. Now one last thing. Remember how the rail was sitting on top of the corrugation? Well we have a big gap here at the bottom now. So we will use those blocks and just put them into place like that. 7:05
