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831 Posts
Since I've been doing operation beautification, I have finally gotten around to fixing/moding my tailgate. Since the titan came with a plastic drop in liner, which I removed, cut up and threw in the trash with 10 miles on the odo, the tailgate access panel screws were always getting snagged on something. Since these screws have an enourmous shoulder on them, I ended up installing some self tapping metal screws in lieu of the shoulder screws, held securely with gorilla glue. I always wanted to borrow a rivnut tool to install rivnuts, but nobody wants to shell out that kind of money for a tool used once in a while...but I do! I bought the rivnut tool and plan to use it for my Long Trans Cooler install, which is coming in the near future. This tool is awesome and works great. I decided to install M6 screws into the existing holes on the tailgate, but could have gone with an M8 screw, no problem. Basically the retrofit was simple. Remove the old screws and access panel. Remove the 8 plastic clips that the original screws are fastened to. Hog out the square recepticals where the plastic doodads were to accept the m6 rivnuts (3/8" drill bit). prime the holes to prevent corrosion/rust. squeeze in the rivnuts. install panel with low profile button hex head screws. The screws sit well below the contour of the panel, and shouldn't give me anymore problems. I plan to put some kind of locktite on the thread, just don't have any at the moment, I'll probably paint the screws with some kind of paint also since they will likely rust. I looked for some button hex head m6 stainless screws, but couldn't find any at home depot, tractor supply or my local ace hardware, so these will have to do for now. I feel confident this rivnut setup will work great for the trans cooler I'll install in the near future.
