1975 Overlander Loose Arm

[Northlander]

1975 Overlander, Carefree awning. The two main arms, attachments riveted to the trailer about eye level with what looks like big rivets. The rear one is tight to the skin, the front one is loose, someone has tried to put something in there to take up the slack, but still is loose. Are these rivets? And if so, how do I replace them?

[Sodbust]

Since no one has jumped in I will try.. My 72 Overlander shows on the main brackets just large sized normal pop rivets.. If one could get behind them with a hammer or heavy shaft and just buck them tight again might work.. But would require pulling some insides off... ( more rivets )

The few I had to replaced was to READ HERE FIRST the proper sized drill bit and just drill out the center of the old rivet.. Then just take a proper sized punch and drive the back side of the old rivet in till it falls between the walls.. That opens up the hole for a new pop rivet..

The reason for the proper sized drill bit is this.. Too small it will not cut the rivet free and too large it will over size the hole and make it hard to get a new rivet to hold tight..

Sodbust

[Erik Olson]

My Carefree brackets are all held to the trailer with lag bolts to the body up top (on ribs) and the floor / rub rail line below. Upgraded the old, rusted lags for 1" stainless 5/16" lags up top and 1-1/2" 5/16" lags below. Up on the top brackets only, I replaced the old, dried rubber spacers with thinner 5/16" x 1/16" rubber washers against the skin of the trailer and 5/16" x 1/8" nylon spacers between those and the brackets. All stainless on the lags to try and stave-off corrosive behavior between the bolts and the aluminum.

[Northlander]

I'll try and post some pics.