Hood Strut Rivet Install Fail

Hey all,

I recently got the Spiker Engineering hood strut kit for 2005-2015 Tacomas and ran into a big issue during the install with the pop rivets.

I got all the bottom holes drilled/painted and got the lower bracket on the passenger side fitted with the rivets through the bracket and holes. The front rivet went in fine and the bracket was super solid. The rear rivet though... I kept clamping down on my rivet tool (an Arrow rivet gun I had just bought at Lowes) and it just wouldn't pop. I kept trying and well... the rivet pulled though the damn body. I ended up pulling the whole thing off so I could shut my hood again but now I have two greater than 3/16th inch holes where the hood strut bracket should have gone, a bent up bracket, and around $100 down the drain.

I used a 3/16th drill bit and the 3/16th attachment for the rivet gun... what the hell did I do wrong? Did I just get a defective rivet?

Any suggestions to remedy this?

Here are some pics:




Here are what the holes on the driver side look like. I drilled through cleanly as far as I can tell:

 

That style of pull rivet is the cheapest of the cheap. They don't always pull reall well. If the hole is now oversized (which it probably is), you can simply get another size larger shank diameter rivet, drill the hole up the appropriate size and have another go.

Generally speaking with pull rivets, if the rivet pulls completely through the material, the hole diameter is too large, and inversely if the rivet doesn't pull all the way before "popping" then the hole is likely too small.

If you want to use higher quality rivets, look at any that CherryMax make. Though you will need a pneumatic or hydraulic puller for any medium to larger sizes.

https://www.aircraftspruce.com/cata...cAPl5AeRq2R2epPhH8yajd62DUB-X1sBoCeRwQAvD_BwE

Alternatively you could always install rivnuts in place of the holes and use whatever type of fastener to hold down your bracket and at that point it is also easy to remove.

 

Make sure when you rivet bracket flushed with metal you rivet to. Might not have been flushed all the way .

 

Just wondering if you could straighten out the bracket in a vice and redrill the holes in the body and use nutserts instead of rivets.

 

You might post your question here?...

https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/hood-lift-strut-mod-2005-2015-tacoma.637747/

 

Get different rivets and move the bracket over 1/2 to 3/4 inches and see what happens,but make sure you have the same measurements on both driver and passenger sides,I just put these same exact ones on from Spiked and they are awesome

 

I didn't know about rivnuts/nutserts. That seems like it might be the best solution now that the holes are indeed bigger. If I went with a bigger rivet I would have to drill out the bracket as well.

I don't really want to move it over as the raised part on the back of the bracket sits in that dip on the body really well so that it is nice and flush. Also, yeah, it was flush when inserting the rivets until one pulled through and I had to bend it/pull the other rivet out.

 

Good luck O.P. my hood works fine with the factory set up.

 

I installed the Spiker kit with zero issues and wow so much better than cheapo prop rod.

If you fully pulled one side and bracket was not seated flush, plus hole oversized - these two things would have caused this. I can see this happening easily, so I was really careful drilling and just started to pull one rivet, switched to the other pulled that one, then the other.

 

This is what I'd do so you don't have to drill four (4) additional holes in the body.

Here is a video from youtube on installing a nutsert (rivet nut) for a hood strut which might help you visualize what you need to do:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gmZBVSMBs0E

 

Except for that stupid 1980's prop rod....

 

Mine worked great as well. Gotta eat your Wheaties to squeeze them, lol.

 

OP if it were me I'd just put a correct sized washer on the backside of the same hole and put a new rivet in it. Ive used rivets in the past and the ones that came with my Spiker hood struts required a lot more effort to cinch them down from my past experiences.

 

I like this. And use a decent stainless washer between stainless screw head and bracket.

Bonus: Get to own a new tool!

 

I agree 100% with you. The stock set-up is simple and you don't have to drill 8 holes in your truck which is completely stupid to do plus what happens to those gas shocks after a few years when the gas leaks out?? Remember the gas shocks years ago on hatchback and mini-vans that had to replaced every few years or so.

 

It's just steel (referring to "8 holes"). The truck has thousands of holes already so 8 more isn't any kind of issue for me. I read many comments from many different people that these struts last over a decade before I purchased mine. There are 2 huge advantages (to me) of these hood struts. The first is I can open the hood and keep it much further up than with a prop rod which is super handy when working under the hood near the firewall. More important to me is that I can't bump the prop rod off and make the hood smack my head while working on my truck.

 

I get the hole drilling part 100% - if you don't want to drill anywhere on your truck - and I mean who does? But shocks should be good for at least 5 years, and are ridiculously easy to replace.

 

Prop rods are plain stupid period. Getting rid of the prop rod is an intelligent move.

 

First of all - sorry to hear about the problems you are having! Second, please feel free to contact us directly with any questions for the fastest response - either through the forum or via the email address in the instructions or on the website. Our customer service is second to none (and that's not just some cliche), and you'll be taken care of. Our products are backed by a 100% money back guarantee, so no matter what, you will NOT be out $100.

Now, a deep breath.

I have never seen a rivet pull through like this (and that's with many thousands of installed rivets), UNLESS the hole was oversized. Even then, contrary to one of the responses here, our rivets are not the "cheapest of the cheap", but rather are premium rivets (commonly used in race cars) that are specifically designed to work even with oversized holes. As another poster mentioned, this could also happen if the bracket was not held tight against the sheetmetal during pulling.

It's too late for your situation, but what I would have suggested is to keep squeezing the rivet gun until the rivet popped (it will pop eventually even if it's pulled through the sheetmetal). Then you can use a drill bit to remove the rivet, and try again. Also, you did not need to pry off the half-attached bracket to close the hood - they should not interfere with the hood in any way. Again, what's done is done, I'm just pointing this out in case anyone runs across this in the future.

As for going forward - you have received some great suggestions here - 1) you can simply try again using the same holes (like I said, the rivets will work with oversize holes; 2) you can drill a new set of holes slightly offset from the original set (you can do that on just one side, no need to do that on both); 3) you can try to use backup washers if you can get to the backside; 4) you can switch to rivnuts if you have a rivnut tool. If you use small enough rivnuts/screws (M4 or M5), you will not have to enlarge the holes in the mounting brackets.

Please let me know how you decide to proceed - I'll be happy to send you additional rivets and a replacement mounting bracket. Like I said, you'll be taken care of.

 

this! this is your best bet