NorthIdahoyota

What is the best way to attach things to body sheetmetal? I am planning on making a snorkel out of ehaust pipe and a mini roof mount thingy to attach axe/shovel/etc. to. It would be nice to have them be removable. So far I'm at pop rivets(drill them out to remove-kind of a pain but would work) or sheet metal screws. What do you use and why?

brianh699

Threaded rivets. Makes removal easy. Just a thought. Never actually used them though.

NorthIdahoyota

Hmm that sounds good, do you know if they use a normal pop rivet gun?

dropzone

iTrader: (6)

sounds like you are looking for a Nutsert...http://www.clipsandfasteners.com/Nutserts_s/141.htm
the gun is pretty expensive

one way to do it

if you mount to sheet metal make sure you brace it from behind...sheet metal won't take a ton of weight..

brianh699

No I think it's different than a normal rivet gun. Google threaded rivet.

Dreidel

go to the hardware store and get some anchors for sheetrock and a drill bit to match

NorthIdahoyota

that seems to be exactly what I'm looking for,putting them in with visegrips looked like not much fun but Its worth not buying the $40 gun. I would think about 6 or 8 of those spread out would hold an axe or shovel without bracing. Thanks guys

Dreidel

cool post pics when done

NorthIdahoyota

Like this, or like this only metal?

Dreidel

just whatever will fit in the hole you drill and will expand and keep its shape when you unscrew it should work
i think the one in the left of the pic would work best out of the others in the pic
i think a metal one could distort the fender a little bit because i popped a dent out on the top of my drivers fender one time and it tweaked the fender just enough that then the door caught the edge of the fender and creased the edge of the fender when i opened the door, the sheet metal is pretty thin but im not for sure

Philbert

iTrader: (2)

Rivet nuts.

I bought this on Amazon:

But haven't yet bought the Rivets from McMaster-Carr - need to figure out which size to get still. This is for installed sheet metal in the back of my 1st gen 4runner to replace the crappy plastic ones.

lobukbuild

drill hole and jb weld a nut and washer on the back side. or just weld it if you have access to a welder.

NorthIdahoyota

The problem with that is getting to the backside of the roof and sidepillar. Pretty much have to half gut the interior

85gijunk4x4

we use these screws at work called "TEK screws" from anything from aluminum flashing on houses to solid beams in commercial buildings. I didn't trust them at first, but they're great! Hold an impressive amount of weight and I've never seen one "pull out" from the metal they were put into.

they have any kinds of heads from flat thin Phillips, to big tall hex heads.

you can get them in almost any length or thickness too.

85gijunk4x4

Discombobulated

The nuts that came with my factory bug shield were awesome I think they are called jack nuts, they would be great for your application.

The tool that came with the bug shield to install them was just like a double sided closed end wrench, I used some bigger ones to mount to my seat rail for my ipad mount and just ended up using the closed side of a 1/2 inch wrench, search them and you will see what I mean

Yakima uses them all the time to install roof racks.

84SR5

Use the Nutsert style they are the strongest and you can re-use them over and over.