2017 F15A Starting over

[Phil Waterman]

Hi

While using rivits properly installed is the ideal approach, the alternative is bolts. The issue is that the bolt or rivit must be a tight fit in both layers of steel.

When I reassembled the frame of my Pat 12 C60L line bored each rivit hole location inplace through all layers to be attached. Each hole was sized so that it would be a drive fit on the shank of grade 8 bolt. Getting the bolts the right length so that the shank (unthreaded section) extended through the steel was the hard part. In the end I bought many different bolt lenghts. Then torque bolts to 75% of max for the bolt size.

The truck has been on the road for about 10 years with a lot of hard off road work hauling firewood with no signs of any of the joints loosening.

Cheers Phil