Installing Fifth Wheel Hitch Bed Rails in Truck with Bed Liner

Updated 07/03/2013 | Published 07/02/2013

Question:

What is the best way to install the 5th installation kit for a f150 2013 which has a bed liner intstalled. Do they have a bed liner purposly formed for accepting the wheel kit which prevents cutting a section out of the bed liner.

asked by: Peter R

Expert Reply:

If your bed liner is the spray-in type, you can simply install the fifth wheel hitch rails directly on top of it. However, if your bed liner is the hard plastic drop-in type, the liner would need to be trimmed away so that the bed rails have direct metal-to-metal contact with the truck bed. If the rails are installed directly over a drop-in liner, eventually the portion of the liner under the rails will deteriorate, which would cause the rails to become loose and lead to a dangerous situation. I am not aware of any method of installing fifth wheel rails that would avoid having to trim a drop-in liner.

If you do need to trim the liner, I have linked you to a video showing how it is done.

expert reply by: Mike L