My bed is about to go to the body shop and I installed the Mar-K steel link assembly so the bed would be ready for body work. I want to say that the Mar-K link assembly is a fine product but there is a learning curve that you must endure if installing one. I had to order the Bedside Modification Kit because my brackets that the pivot bolt attaches to was welded on at the factory.Cutting of the slots in the tailgate sides was not difficult as the template allows you to scribe the lines. I used a side grinder with metal cutting wheel and a Dremel with reinforced metal discs to make the cuts. A #60 grit flap wheel on the side grinder and a file allowed the cuts to be deburred nicely.The pivot bolt brackets were drilled out and with the help of a bolt and dead-blow hammer I dislodged and removed the brackets. Using the modification kit template, I located the spots for the holes and drilled them for the "nut-serts" to be installed. This is where it gets tricky. Read the instructions carefully and use the half inch nuts, allen bolts and template, to expand the nut-serts inside the holes you drill. I was not able to get the nut-serts to begin expanding as there was not enough room to significantly turn a hand wrench in the tight confines of the bed sides. A friend and I put the template in my vice and with the hand wrench and an extension on the allen bolt we were able to get the nut-sert to begin expanding. Then we tapped the nut-serts into the drilled holes and continued expanding them with a hand wrench and the nut/allen combo. Once the nut-serts begin expanding it is fairly easy to tighten them in the holes. All else was easy. (see attached photos.)
P.S. In one of the photos you'll notice the use of a deep-well impact socket, the Mar-K Allen bolt with extention for leverage, the 1/2" nut, and (of all things) a pipe wrench! The socket and pipe wrench allowed the quick and effortless expansion of the nut-sert into the bed sides. Use of the 1/2" hand wrench was pretty frustrating due to space confines.
