Mounting a Hawk on a Ford F250

[bsharp007]

I'm getting ready to move a 2022 Hawk from a Ford F150 to a 2022 Ford F250, I've watched the FWC video about how to install, measured 5 times but I'm still a little nervous about drilling into a new truck bed.
And the washers especially the front eyebolts don't quite fit in the spot where they need to go so I'm worried about crushing the ridges of the truck bed in that area.

Anyway, I'm wondering if anyone with a late model Ford f250 has any advice or how they managed to get around the washer issue or where they put their eyebolts.

 

[Jon R]

GM owner here, but I had a similar concern with round washers causing crushing of bed corrugations. I made rectangular washers out of bar stock.

 

[Beach]

I did the same as Jon R, fabricated my plates to fit the eye bolt location adding a small radius to fit the curvature of the bed.. On the plus side, you'll have a plate that will distribute the load/stress over a larger area. I used 3/16 aluminum plate in combo with a large fender washer.

 

[Openroad]

I did the same move. 2022 Hawk from a F150 to F350. I got some 1/4 aluminum plate and cut four pieces that would fit in between the ribs. The long sides were cut at about a 45 degree angle so they would fit flush against the ribs. The 1/4 aluminum then sits flush with the top of ribs for the fender washer. I would also consider installing a nylon washer between the fender washer and the 1/4 aluminum plate to lesson the chances of galvanic corrosion.

You might also want to consider what I did for the backing plates. Given the aluminum body, I cut some custom backing plates for extra strength. I posted the process at this link.The images also show the plates I mentioned above. Just something to consider.

https://www.fordtremor.com/threads/tremor-four-wheel-camper.438/page-10#post-261319

Good luck.

 

[bsharp007]

Very nice Openroad, I wish I had the fabrication skills for that install. What I did instead is repurpose all the hardware that FWC used to install the Hawk on my F150. All of the top washers were cut down already so they fit OK in the into the grooves in the bed. I didn't get to place them in the exact spots I wanted to due to the contours of the bed but I made sure to capture the bed cross members underneath the bed with the large aluminum plates. This setup has been solid with the F150, I load up the camper for the first time tomorrow for its first trip in the new truck!
Thanks everyone for the tips.