Riv Nut?

I bought these at high strength bolt to make my rear flares detachable, was told they are called riv nuts. its just like a rivet, but has threads. I have been to a handful of collision centers and no one seems to have the tool to set them, one place quoted me 250 dollars to set them in pre-drilled holes! Any one know where i can get the tool, or how to rig something up to set these? thanks for the help.

Try calling some bike shops. That's the same fastener used to mount water bottle cages to aluminum frames. I know some of the high-end shops around here have them.
HTH.

i know your a ways away but i use these all the time at work. i use a gun made by "aro" you can also set them carefully just using the bolt if you make the hole small enough to get a good bite on the rivnut.

there is a local place called professional tool center that doesn't sell aro but they can probabally get you the equivelent.

2236 S 116th street
West Allis, WI 53227
414-321-1234 ask for Brad and tell him Harold told you to call.

if he can't help you ask him to talk to Dan Pinnow and he should be able to get it figured out.

you can probabally get it through a snap on or matco ect guy too the parent company for Pro- tool sells all the tools to tool dealers. pro- tool is just the public part of the company.

any more questions feel free to ask

thanks and good luck, Harold

we actually use a hex hole at work but everything is laser cut so setting it by using a bolt might be hard for you.

i would try using a center punch and dimpling around the flange to try to get a bite so it doesn't spin.

what about drilling a hole the size of the the riv-nut in a peice of hard wood or metal and just tapping them in from the other side? the wood/metal would prevent the metal from around the hole from pushing out, wouldn't it?

25 bucks here:

http://www.rivetnuttool.com/

I have a kit of these with the tool, they're pretty handy. Put nuts in the door skins of my old van to mount mirrors. Of course, mine came from a garage sale for $2, but that was 20 years ago and I don't think I've seen a used one for sale since.

Good luck.

Thank you very much everybody, got all the correct info i needed in under an hour. You would be surprised to hear what the collision shops around were quoting me. Bastard Crooks.

If you can get to the back of the nut bite down on it with a pair of channel locks or visegrips and start cranking down on the nu making sure it stays flush with the body.

You will want to do something to keep the rivnut from spinning. That is one of the major flaws of rivnuts, it is nearly impossible with a round hole to prevent them from spinning when you are trying to remove the bolt from them. At my aviation shop, we found that a drop or two of super glue-type adhesive on the shaft of the rivnut right before you buck them, seems to hold them pretty well. We found that a real live nutplate worked much better, riveted into place with appropriate blind rivets.

These are nutplates, in case you are wondering:

I got my HD rivet tool from ACE hardware,looks just like regular riveter on heavier material and all the attachments.

oldradiostuff said:

25 bucks here:

http://www.rivetnuttool.com/

I have a kit of these with the tool, they're pretty handy. Put nuts in the door skins of my old van to mount mirrors. Of course, mine came from a garage sale for $2, but that was 20 years ago and I don't think I've seen a used one for sale since.

Good luck.

Click to expand...

I like that tool! I may have to get one for later anyhow...

I've used Rivnuts before and like them - when I did some light fab, I played with most sorts of things like that (nutplates, Dzus fasteners, Rivnuts, ...) and I tend to prefer Rivnuts when I can use them (fix them in place with a little epoxy or JB-weld before you buck them, and they'll nail down nice.)

Swage nuts are also pretty cool, but take a bit of getting used to. For stuff like this, you can also check out outfits like Aircraft Spruce & Specialty or Wicks Aircraft Supply - they're both online, should Google readily, and they cater to kitbuilders (so they have decent assortments of most things we'd find handy.)

i was wondering how you keep these from spinning? Is it solely based on the clamping force of the rivet nut to the sheet metal? If so, it seems like you would have trouble getting them tight enough, and trouble loosening anything that was even slightly seized. Am I missing something obvious?

This looks like a good idea for installing Bushwackers.

The sheetmetal on an XJ is really too thin to have good grip from the self-tappers.

NCCherokee said:

i was wondering how you keep these from spinning? Is it solely based on the clamping force of the rivet nut to the sheet metal? If so, it seems like you would have trouble getting them tight enough, and trouble loosening anything that was even slightly seized. Am I missing something obvious?

Click to expand...

No, you are absolutely correct. In a "standard" installation, the clamping force is all that keeps a rivnut from spinning. As 5-90 and I mentioned, some sort of adhesive on the rivnut right before bucking can help alleviate this, but there is nothing as irritating as a spinning rivnut installed in a "blind" location with a seized fastener stuck in it.

Daedalus454 said:

No, you are absolutely correct. In a "standard" installation, the clamping force is all that keeps a rivnut from spinning. As 5-90 and I mentioned, some sort of adhesive on the rivnut right before bucking can help alleviate this, but there is nothing as irritating as a spinning rivnut installed in a "blind" location with a seized fastener stuck in it.

Click to expand...

Ayuh. Rivnuts are mainly so you can use machine screws or thumbscrews to retain access panels in sheetmetal construction. They're not meant for anything structural - that's what plate nuts are for.

Rivnuts have the advantage of installing a machine thread, which can make access panel removal easier (use a coarse machine thread for things you need to get to in a hurry - they come out faster, since they have a larger "lead" on the screw thread.)

If you want to "hurry" install in anything structural, you can use a "swage nut" - it's rather like a Rivnut, but it has collars on both sides, the collars lock together with a spline, and the mating surfaces with the panel have swage splines in them that help keep the thing from spinning (but they're still not great.) A plate nut is good, a weld nut is better, and just welding the damn thing together is best (structural joins typically don't require periodic disassembly.)

Rivnuts can be thought of as a heavy-duty version of a rubber well nut - but while well nuts are easy to install the first time, they're typically not reusable. They work well for parts that don't require a great deal of strength, or when vibration is a concern, or similar things (I use them for mount kits on my ANL fuse blocks, and will probably use them for more.)

Rivnuts are good for access panels, but if you want to get into the thing quickly, you're better using a Dzus - since a quarter-turn releases the thing fully. Dzus are available in a slotted head (use a quarter or something similar) for a flush appearance, or with "wings" like a wing nut for when appearance isn't an issue, and access is (the wings are typically large enough to grab with gloves on as well.)

When I couldn't find my Rivnut "tool" that came with my OEM t-case skid, I made one using a nut that was as long as my plier's jaws were high and a bolt. Thread the nut onto the bolt; thread the bolt into the Rivnut; hold nut with pliers; tighten bolt head until the Rivnut crushes acceptably.

A few more options.......
http://www.riveter.com/english/pages/rivetdex1.html

Do it simple. Get a 1/2"(or larger) nut. Thread in the correct size bolt through the nut, into the RivNut. Hold the 1/2"(or larger) nut still, while tightening down the bolt. It will pull the part through. Simple, and easy.

I used these when I added the OEM tcase skid to my Cherokee. None one had them or even knew what they were except for the dealer. I was able to make an install tool that worked very well. I can't find the article I used to make my tool, but these might give you a starting place

http://www.fjr1300.info/howto/rivnut-tool.html

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/oakwood_data/pulling_rivnuts.htm

Hope this helps.