Question for those with Thor Guards

Has anyone ever mounted theirs just using rivets? I was thinking about possible just mounting mine with rivets, but figured I would see what the general consensus is on doing that.

My question would be why? It's not that hard to mount them with the allen bolts/nuts. It's also stronger and looks better because the holes in the THOR guards are counter sunk.

I believe the second you rub against something, that rivot is going to pop. Nuts/ bolts probably won't.

Yeah.... I just thought it would be easier than pulling all of the interior panels and junk out to put the nuts on the back side.

Interior panels are realy easy to remove. Probably won't take you more than 10 minutes per side to remove. I had to do this for a CROK rear bumper install.

I call BS on the 10 Min. install, unless you have the arms of a five year old. Mine took quite a while, especially the last bolt in the drivers lower corner with the filler neck in the way.

During the install I thought to myself countersunk 1/4 Cherry-lock rivets would work great.

after removing the panels on and off a 100 times for different projects and losing have the bolts mine are down to a 5 minute job

^if you read carefully it says ten minutes to remove the interior panels.

Ok sorry, :looser:

Ya, you don't want to lose the screws, That you require an additional 10 minutes of profanity...

I installed my Thors with stainless sheet metal screws, I've bashed them a few times and they've held up great.

I just ratchet strapped the Thor in place, punched a mark where the center of all the holes were, drilled a hole in the appropriate place, and busted out the drill to put in some sheet metal screws. Just be careful not to over tighten or you'll strip the panel (I did it to one, still didn't matter much as all they do is hold it up against the body, but still)

It's not like the Thors are being yanked on, they're being pushed closer to the body then you originally put them if anything.

~Scott

I have to be the odball here and disagree with most of you. I work at gichner shelter systems where we make miltary shelters for the miltary our shelters and commandcenter are combat proven in many enviroments. weather attached to a humvee or a medivac unit or a navy ship or even on with our patriot missle line we use countersunk rivets not bolts or screws. and when we are not using rivets we use whats called a huck gun which uses hucks and they are almost identical to a rivet. point being if it is good enough for the united states military and if it can be used on a missile housing a rivet or rivnut is definatly strong enough for this application however what i would do after riveting it is cover the counter sink with an epoxy or other material just to ensure that the rivets have no chance of catching on anything. just as an extra insurance but an easy fix for this is just to hit it with a deeper counter sink if you dont want to cover the hole up.....just my 2 cents

pyrothugg said:

I have to be the odball here and disagree with most of you. I work at gichner shelter systems where we make miltary shelters for the miltary our shelters and commandcenter are combat proven in many enviroments. weather attached to a humvee or a medivac unit or a navy ship or even on with our patriot missle line we use countersunk rivets not bolts or screws. and when we are not using rivets we use whats called a huck gun which uses hucks and they are almost identical to a rivet. point being if it is good enough for the united states military and if it can be used on a missile housing a rivet or rivnut is definatly strong enough for this application however what i would do after riveting it is cover the counter sink with an epoxy or other material just to ensure that the rivets have no chance of catching on anything. just as an extra insurance but an easy fix for this is just to hit it with a deeper counter sink if you dont want to cover the hole up.....just my 2 cents

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I gotta agree totally... I am planning on building a set similar to the Thor's, and am planning on putting silicone around the edges of the guard, I do not plan on removing it, and if I do, a simple slice with a utlity knife will let you access it thru the silicone bead.. I would also consider putting silicone on each rivet before installing it to prevent rust forming, and if you really want to ensure a good strong bond, You can implement a washer on the baskside of each rivet, before popping it in place... The other thing you mentioned also, is that just like everything else, there is better quality of products out there now than ever before available to the general public, thanks to the net. I am sure most ppl think of the lil aluminum rivet you get at home depot to hold your raingutter on your house together. These fasteners pyro is talking about are the new age of fastening..LOL so to speak.. I was honestly ignorant to all this facts of the rivets, until I got to talk to pyro on here, and he told me about all the kinds of cool stuff that is out there... and I think the best part easy on and easy off....:cheers:

Thanks for your 2 cents, and honestly if the shuttle can fly into space on rivets, my Jeep can navigate the local trails....

xjnuttier said:

Thanks for your 2 cents, and honestly if the shuttle can fly into space on rivets, my Jeep can navigate the local trails....

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Haha are you honestly comparing the rivets NASA uses on the shuttle to rivets you get at Home Depot?

xjnuttier said:

and am planning on putting silicone around the edges of the guard

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Bad idea in my opinion. You would be amazed where water can get into and if your silicone isn't PERFECT, water WILL get in but most likely wont get out which will make it rust.

The force is shearing, not pulling, so I don't see why rivets wouldn't work. If I had a set of those things to mount I would use epoxy or body tape.

Maybe check Grainer's or McMaster Carr to source rivets. They will most likely have the correct tool to install them too.

Thanks guys, but I have decided that I am just going to go ahead and use the supplied hardware. I think I was just trying to be lazy. LOL I got the backside of them painted with regular paint today, and did the outward side of them with spray on bedliner. I will also be installing the JCR lower quarter guards at the same time.