Plus nut installation tool

With your DIY tool assembled in the order described above, thread it into the insert until it bottoms out. Put a wrench on the oversized nut to prevent it from spinning and a socket on the bolt head. Now, while holding the box wrench, start tightening the bolt. This will collapse the rivet nut on the back side and lock it into the hole.

Once installed, a bolt can be fastened and removed into it. Feeling lazy? Question 2 years ago on Step 8. Question 2 years ago. I have yet to rip anything out of my ford e, so maybe this will be obvious once i do, but will my ford van have these hole to use the cross nuts in? We are trying to figure out how to secure out platform bed we are making for saftey sake since our 15 mth old will ride in the captains chair in front of it!

If we do have these holes and can use the cross nuts We honestly believe the Build Journal is valuable information. In that case, Amazon will give us a small commission. A tool is used to expand it, securing it into place. The Plusnut has a threaded hole that allows for the insertion of a bolt along with a washer. Bed supports bolted to the wall with plusnuts support all our weight in our removable bed platform. Our kitchen cabinets are anchored to the wall with plusnuts.

Our ceiling panels are attached to furring strips, which are machine screwed to plusnuts in the van ceiling. Plusnuts are a much stronger attachment system than screws through the van metal. By far the best installation method is the investment in an installation tool, available online from McMaster Carr. We made a demonstration video on how a Plusnut is installed using the tool:.

If a plusnut is over tightened, either during installation or when a bolt is being inserted, the expanded bulb can lose its compression. Side note: Another installation tool some recommended is the Astro Pneumatic You can also DIY an installation tool using wrenches and some nuts, but as Faroutride. We used about plusnuts in our high-roof extended length Transit. After creating an adequate hole, be sure to deburr the hole so the plusnut can seat on a flush surface, and paint the bare metal to avoid rust.

A step bit is the tool best made for this job. Buy on amazon The step drill bit is the best tool for drilling holes into your van if you must for fitting plusnuts. The gradually stepping up of the bit size makes for a smooth drill and minimizes burrs. Perhaps the trickiest aspect of plusnuts is accurately locating holes in the material you are going to be fastening to the wall like the back of a cabinet.

Plusnuts appear to be a little more forigiving and quite a bit more robust. Yes, plusnuts are more expensive, but my opinion they are a much better product. They were advertised with a rivet range of 0. I had never used rivnuts before so was fairly ignorant as to all the details I should have been looking for still am pretty ignorant on the details for that matter.

Rather than buy the expensive, but highly recommended Astro Rivet Nut Installer , I built my own contraption to install the rivnuts utilizing a. I used a metric step drill bit. At 9mm it was a tight fit, but that helped the rivnuts seat better initially. While my custom tool was effective, installing the rivnuts was difficult and apparently not very effective. Several rivnuts failed to seat properly during the install process and 10, miles later, several more popped out.

It was difficult to know how tight to get the rivnuts and when they were seated well or overtight. And the right sized drill bit, or suffer the wrong results. Another problem is that the van sheet metal is pretty flimsy no wonder a lot of the professional upfitters use all that reinforcement!

Whatever the cause some speculation in the comments below, which may be correct lots of the rivnuts I installed popped out over time. My research lead me to plusnuts…. The biggest difference between rivnuts and plusnuts is the flange that is created when the nut is compressed. Whereas the flange on a rivnut is fairly small, but covers the entire circumference of the nut, a pre-bulbed plusnut expands significantly more when compressed, really grabbing onto the backside of the metal you are seating it in, in the shape of a plus.

After installing a half-dozen of them, I am a total believer in these plusnuts. They have been a significant improvement to the rivnut. I can think of the following major advantages:.