I don't know if it was just old age or maybe vibration, but the side trim popped off by the heater and the side of the door. So I drilled some new 5/32" holes and riveted with long Arrow rivets. Next time, I'll probably get medium rivets as the fit wasn't totally tight. Here's the side.
By the way - when I opened the furnace, I found the flame access door vibrated off, as did the knobs for the oven. All seemed to fit tightly, so the freq of vibration seems to be small but intense. I'll be looking into wheel/hub balancing soon!
Kind of fun! The rivets are aluminum to aviod galvonic rusting of dis-simular metals (but not Olympic Rivets They're not very noticably down low. Again, next time I'd use medium length rivets.
Peter, I just ran down to the garage to check. I first used the 5/32" diameter "short" rivet with a 1/4"depth, but the trim panel was just a bit too thick to bite past the skins. When I returned to Home Depot, I couldn't remember what size depth I had, so I went with the "long" which has a 1/2" depth (worked nights, working on the trailer with 19hrs awake time and 5 hrs sleep time fades the brain at the end of the day/night ). "Medium" would be perfect.
I have used Arrow rivets on some modifications on my Overlander.
I now have purchased Olympic rivets.
Why, you ask?......... The old school of hard knocks!
The Arrow rivets merely swell at the aft end of the rivet. The original rivets pulled out due to vibration and twisting. You can minimize this vibration but pulling any trailer will induce vibration inherently. Roads are not like glass.
The point is, that my experience with Arrow rivets and the way that they work is that they will hold in the driveway but the "swell" of the rivet will literally vibrate and make the hole larger and larger with vibration. The hole will eventually get large enough thet the "swollen" rivet will come loose.
Olympic rivets actually work like a toggle bolt. The more tension that is pulled on the stem the more that the "wing" will spread out. The working part of the rivet is actullay the "wings" that are pulled against the back of the metal plate and not the pressure against the "hole" as in the Arrow rivet.
I have literally seen a good looking job that I done with Arrow rivets come apart on the first road trip due to this effect. I now use olympic rivets with no failure.
I am not necessarily promoting "Olympic" but if there is another brand of rivet that works the same way, I would buy them before I bought Arrow. Arrow rivets work great on stationary objects but not on objects that are subject to vibration.
I have attached this photo so you can see how the "wings" spread out and provide for extra backing against the rear of the plate. The hole would have to get VERY large for an olypic rivet to pull out.
Smily
__________________ Ken Smillie
My 1994 36' Classic MH is for sale See it in the classifieds
Can you get these rivets in different sizes? I have a supply of "olympics", but the source only had them in one size. I've got a couple of small holes I'd like to patch w/ rivets, but the holes are small (had an arrow pop-rivet holding something on in the past), and there isn't quite room for the chunky olympic rivet head. (you'd have to see it; the hole is really close to the lock for the fresh-water filler neck. a big fat olympic would bump up against the lock, which isn't flush w/ the skin.) drilling a bigger hole would allow the stem of the rivet inside...but the head wouldn't fit up against this obstruction.
Chuck,
The Olympic shaveable head rivets are not available smaller then 5/32. If I visualize your situation correct, couldn't you first trim or grind a flat edge on the side of the head to make it seat flush and then set it? You might have to enlarge the hole first with a #21 bit. The next problem lies in what is behind the skin. For the Olympic to work correct and leave the mandrel (stem) exposed for shaving, all three of the legs must be able to retract without hitting an obstruction or the mandrel will come out when you set it, leaving a hole in the rivet head.
Randy
If you don't have a lot of rivets this is something that seems to work well for me. I cut the stem as flush as possible with a set of dikes and then use my little right angle air grinder on them. It uses small abrasive pads which spin on with a little twist and are made by 3M. They come in different grits, differentiated by color.
My brother turned me on to them and he uses them on aluminum engine parts to remove gaskets, etc.
I am not the proud owner of a shaver but I have a Unit member that may loan one to me. It is really a simple tool but for some reason it is ridiculously expensive.
I have read where some folks shave it down with Dremel tool.
Depending on how many you have to do, I would consider this option but it is obvious that one might incur some damage with a runaway Dremel tool.
Sounds like grinding or polishing the head down some would be the solution to your fix.
I can assure you this, an Olympic will not give way to typical vibration.
Smily
__________________ Ken Smillie
My 1994 36' Classic MH is for sale See it in the classifieds
You guys are right, they are ridiculously expensive. So much that I have not sold the brand new one I have in the parts forum. I have it listed for $175 including postage which is cheaper then I have seen it anywhere, but people understandably don't want to buy something that expensive if they don't plan to get that much use out of it. I wish I could come up with a rental program for it and let everybody use it for a fraction of a new one.
Wish I had read this post earlier. I still have a lot of riveting to do though.
Do you need a special tool for the olympic rivet. I have one of the cheaper Arrow type rivet guns. It has about four different holes for different sized rivets. Nobody around here has Olympic rivets, I will need to mail order them. Can you get them at Lowe's or Home Depot?
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They're not very noticably down low. Again, next time I'd use medium length rivets.
). "Medium" would be perfect.
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