Moondog
Well Known Member
This type of mistake I’ve made more than once. Very frustrating since it was truly avoidable. If I try to drill out the bad rivet with an angle drill, it will not be pretty. A tailwheel is not under consideration, so would it be ok to replace the rivet with an AN3-xA bolt? Here is the deal----
The F-711 bulkhead has two near-vertical bars, each is riveted in place by the factory (QB) except for the bottom hole which was left open to allow for a tailwheel. Mine is a -7A, so I needed to install an AN470AD4-7 rivet on each side, but found that getting my hands in either side of this bulkhead was a challenge.
There was no room for the rivet gun on the factory side of the rivet (which is on the aft side of the bulkhead, see photo),
so I slipped the rivet gun into the space in front of the bulkhead. There was just enough room to reach down and hold the gun steady with the back-rivet attachment over the shop head.
For the factory side, I had taken the threaded bolt and lock nut off a DRDT-2. Then inserted a squeezer cup into the end of the bolt. I slipped the nut/bolt/cup into a hole drilled near the end of a half-inch thick steel bar (about 6” long x 2” wide). This gave me just enough weight and leverage to hold against the factory head of the rivet.
It worked perfectly. Brilliant. Followed by stupid.
Picked up the (wrong!) rivet off my workbench. Repeated the procedure but it didn’t feel right. Looked at the factory head, it was properly seated, but the shop head was too short. Apparently, I picked up a 4-4 rivet from the tray sitting next to the 4-7 tray by mistake.
Now what? Drilling out the rivet will be difficult. I know the hole will enlarge if I do. Should I replace with a bolt?
The F-711 bulkhead has two near-vertical bars, each is riveted in place by the factory (QB) except for the bottom hole which was left open to allow for a tailwheel. Mine is a -7A, so I needed to install an AN470AD4-7 rivet on each side, but found that getting my hands in either side of this bulkhead was a challenge.
There was no room for the rivet gun on the factory side of the rivet (which is on the aft side of the bulkhead, see photo),
so I slipped the rivet gun into the space in front of the bulkhead. There was just enough room to reach down and hold the gun steady with the back-rivet attachment over the shop head.
For the factory side, I had taken the threaded bolt and lock nut off a DRDT-2. Then inserted a squeezer cup into the end of the bolt. I slipped the nut/bolt/cup into a hole drilled near the end of a half-inch thick steel bar (about 6” long x 2” wide). This gave me just enough weight and leverage to hold against the factory head of the rivet.
It worked perfectly. Brilliant. Followed by stupid.
Picked up the (wrong!) rivet off my workbench. Repeated the procedure but it didn’t feel right. Looked at the factory head, it was properly seated, but the shop head was too short. Apparently, I picked up a 4-4 rivet from the tray sitting next to the 4-7 tray by mistake.
Now what? Drilling out the rivet will be difficult. I know the hole will enlarge if I do. Should I replace with a bolt?
Last edited: