Is this a rivet???

[tinbender]

I found these fasteners in the front floor channel. They appear to be some type of very long rivet but are a new one on me. They go through the channel and floorboard to the bottom of the trailer and end in a small collar that is flush with the frame. Top collar is 3/4" diameter and stems are up to 3 1/2in. long. The stems are steel and are quite rusty, the stem is missing from one of them and the empty collar seems to be pressed into the surrounding channel as it will not readily come out.

I am doing a couple floor repair patches and want to replace the bolts under the channel as they are not in good shape, rusty. To do this these mystery fasteners will have to come out.

Any one know if these fasteners are something special I should try to replace in kind or could I just take these out and replace them with regular floor bolts, connecting the channel to the floor with them?

Tried to post photos, but no joy.

Thanks for any info. TB

[Aerowood]

Yes They are really long steel blind rivets, and my Gt had them in there also. There is a catch though, in that the channel covers up elevator bolts too, just to make it a bit more sporty. I have to be honest here and tell you that it was extremely difficult to get them out. I ended up cutting a hole in the floorboard wide enough to get a saws all in and first cut all the rivets off between the channel and the floorboard and then in between the floorboard and the front cross member to cut all the elevator bolts. I'm convinced that the Airstream engineer that designed it this way did so to piss me off and he should be cut and bled a little.
Kip

[tinbender]

Think I got the photos in here now. New computer learning curve.

[tinbender]

Thanks Kip. You have confirmed my worst fears. I figured they would be a monster to deal with. And that "engineer" you referred to..... I was thinking more like a complete bleed out.

Did you replace them with anything special or did you just use the elevator bolts?
TB

[Zeppelinium]

OK, I gotta ask. Why are they called elevator bolts?

And wouldn't regular bolts with a lockwasher or Locktite do?

Zep

[tinbender]

Zep,

I don't really know why they call 'em elevator bolts except maybe that it's because they have a squared off area that extends down about 1/4 in. just under the head of the bolt. That area gripped into the surface on the other floor job I did and kept them from spinning when tightened. I'm sure regular bolts with lock washers would work just fine.

TB

[Aerowood]

This is what I heard on Elevator Bolts, it is the fastener used to bolt together galvanized steel grain elevators. I personally think that they are junk and I do not have a single one on my GT anymore. I used bolts in the "C" channel and countersunk bolts in the floor area.