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I thought I would share this in case any of you find yourself fighting with loose rivet nuts. The military seems to use a lot of them for sheet metal. They are great until they lose their grip and spin when you try to tighten or loosen a bolt. I will also add that these things are very delicate when it comes to accidentally cross threading. Make absolutely sure the bolt is threading in correctly and easily or you will booger up the beginning threads and have to chase them with a tap.
There are two methods I have used. The first method is to place a hammer head or heavy metal on the backside of the rivet nut and then use a hammer to tap the front flange to tighten it up. I have done this on a couple small ones in the dash. The second method I just ran across works very well and I used this to fix 4 loose ones for the antenna mount. This method involves using a bolt and nut to squeeze the rivet nut down, in the same manner as the real installation tool does to set them. I found this method in the video below. For my application I used a small metal bar with two holes drilled in it, one for the rivet nut to be fixed and one to hold the metal bar to keep from spinning, with a bolt in an adjacent rivet nut. Here's the video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfQIYLSKGwI
Using the second method works very well but can be tricky if the threads are already a little messed up. That's how these things get loose sometimes...the bolt cross threads and locks up, then the rivet nut starts spinning. Once you get the rivet nut tightened up a little, you can chase the threads and then better seat the rivet nut. For the antenna mount, most of the rivet nuts are located in the side pillar which is double walled, so you can't get to the backside of them to use the hammer method.
There are two methods I have used. The first method is to place a hammer head or heavy metal on the backside of the rivet nut and then use a hammer to tap the front flange to tighten it up. I have done this on a couple small ones in the dash. The second method I just ran across works very well and I used this to fix 4 loose ones for the antenna mount. This method involves using a bolt and nut to squeeze the rivet nut down, in the same manner as the real installation tool does to set them. I found this method in the video below. For my application I used a small metal bar with two holes drilled in it, one for the rivet nut to be fixed and one to hold the metal bar to keep from spinning, with a bolt in an adjacent rivet nut. Here's the video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfQIYLSKGwI
Using the second method works very well but can be tricky if the threads are already a little messed up. That's how these things get loose sometimes...the bolt cross threads and locks up, then the rivet nut starts spinning. Once you get the rivet nut tightened up a little, you can chase the threads and then better seat the rivet nut. For the antenna mount, most of the rivet nuts are located in the side pillar which is double walled, so you can't get to the backside of them to use the hammer method.
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