Loose rivets on a flying RV?

Garage Guy · #1 07-16-2008, 03:21 PM

Recently I was looking at a 6 for sale, and I noticed a few loose rivets on the underside of the wing. By "loose" I mean noticeably hanging down, and I could easily get a fingernail under the factory head and wiggle it around a bit. I pointed these out to the seller, and he said you just have to drill those out, and replace them with monel blind rivets, and then he showed me places where several had already been done.

My question is, how do rivets get that loose? Were they just badly set to start with, or is this something that can happen over time? Airframe has about 1000 hours. It looked like some rivets on the top of the wing were smoking, too. How worried should I be?

--GG

Geico266 · #2 07-16-2008, 03:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garage Guy

Recently I was looking at a 6 for sale, and I noticed a few loose rivets on the underside of the wing. By "loose" I mean noticeably hanging down, and I could easily get a fingernail under the factory head and wiggle it around a bit. I pointed these out to the seller, and he said you just have to drill those out, and replace them with monel blind rivets, and then he showed me places where several had already been done.

My question is, how do rivets get that loose? Were they just badly set to start with, or is this something that can happen over time? Airframe has about 1000 hours. It looked like some rivets on the top of the wing were smoking, too. How worried should I be?

--GG

Bad to start with. See if you can get at them to reset them, or drill & replace. Inspect the rest of the plane carefully.

Norman CYYJ · #3 07-16-2008, 04:51 PM

Don't look any further. Walk away from it, better yet run as fast as you can go.

TSwezey · #4 07-16-2008, 04:54 PM

I haven't ever seen any loose rivets. Well, not that loose. Either the airframe has been but under some stress or those rivets weren't set right.

vmirv8bldr · #5 07-16-2008, 06:17 PM

I believe that'd be a show stopper for me. Wouldn't care to see any more.

videobobk · #6 07-16-2008, 08:45 PM

Maybe after 1000 hours a few smokers. Maybe. But loose rivets tell you a couple of things: little care went into the building of it and inspections have been haphazard. I'd walk away.

Bob Kelly

osxuser · #7 07-16-2008, 11:55 PM

Were they countersunk or dimpled? If they are dimpled and smoking RUN! If they are countersunk at all I wouldn't buy it.

Garage Guy · #8 07-17-2008, 12:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by videobobk

little care went into the building of it

That's the thing that made me wonder what to make of the rivets: overall the build quality appears quite high. Good fit and shape to the panels, nothing that looks like a mistake to me. Not what you'd call a rough plane at all.

sprucemoose · #9 07-17-2008, 01:49 AM

There is one place that is known to develop smoking rivets on the 6, and that is on the cockpit bottom skin (under your feet.) Significant rivet smoking anywhere other than this is an indicator of serious problems. I wouldn't touch it.

Robert M · #10 07-17-2008, 03:08 AM

Dang, I didn't think these things would get "Loose"! Not hanging down loose anyway. If you can get a finger nail under the edge of a 3-3.5 on the skin of the wing, it seems to me that there is only about a fingernail's width left holding the rivet in place. I'm not positive but I don't think that meets standards.

So, I think I know why the plane is being sold.