[Will]

Haven’t done that one…yet! I have left two of my alter ego’s initials on wing surfaces while flush riveting….Clyde Cook and Oly Olson….and someone yelling out, “I was on the damn rivet”

Another SoCal boy….It’s all yours now!

[Harry]

I use a Harbor Freight 1/4″ capicity rivet gun on Stainless 3/16″ dia rivets all the time.

works quite well and under $500 so I just go get another one if it wears out.

Jim Brown

[Dorel]

There could easily be an entire thread on the wonders or lack there of on Harbor Freight. Personally I use their coupons to by US made products, Techron…that kind of thing. Harbor Freight stocks a number of things other than Chinese tools……Just Saying. Wasn’t that many years ago when they started business as Harbor Freight and SALVAGE in Los Angeles…….. I do recall that everything was made in Taiwan back then……

Their 10 dollar spray guns work fine for shooting a heavy primer surfacer, they are disposable…. The free screw drivers are great for operning paint cans as well….jury is still out on their free ohm meters…

[Archived]

Affirming the Harbor Freight tool, it works well enough for the casual job.

Practice on some scrap metal before working on the bus.

TIP: Press towards the panel being riveted when starting the rivet, as soon as it is expanded enough to hold itself in the hole, change your pushing into pulling, thus when the stem pops off you will not lunge the tool forward to scratch the stainless with the sharp stem sticking out of the tool.

Prevost sells all of the rivets found on the bus. Some look polished, but not to the Liberty level of polish.

If you want to polish your own, drill a hole in the end of a dowell pin the size of the rivet. Place a river into the hole and present it to a 3M polishing wheel mounted on a bench grinder. Hold at a slight angle and hold the rivet stem in the other hand. Press into the wheel and turn the dowell. Caution wear leather gloves, the rivet gets hot!

All done.

JIM

[Archived]

Hi all –

Hanging out in Nevada reading through forums and came across one about rivets! Although the information in this thread is about two years too late for me, I’m happy to hear an expert say that my rivets might not be pretty, but they shiuld do the job. When I started this project, as many of you have noticed, I had absolutely no experience with buses, conversions, etc. And there wasn’t a whole lot of readily available info out there for DIYers – especially about prevost. That’s one of the reasons I started the channel, the rivet challenge. Where do you buy rivets? How do you install? How do you know you have the right size? All questions I had to just figure out.

It would be great if you would add your expertise to the comment section of the rivet videos so the next person looking for information gets it right.

We’ve been living full time on the bus for almost a year now and couldn’t be happier. (yes, Rocky, the batteries work like a dream – running a/c all night without a hitch.)

You’ll also be pleased to know that I did figure out my error on the tire date codes and corrected it in a later video. And yes, I put a big disclaimer at the front of every one of my videos warning that I’m no expert and that the videos are just for fun. Oh yeah…and that I like to use the f-word.

Hope to see you all on the road!

[Kirby]

Dick,

I had a panel replaced at Prevost Jacksonville several years ago. One thing that I was curious about was why they had the bus side needing the panel facing the sun. The sun seems hotter in Florida. The answer I got was the solar heat expanded the panel which when cooled off would make the panel “banjo string tight.” Oe problem they ran into and did not divulge to me until it was too late. Prevost shipped two panels, one left and one right side. The left was the side I needed but it suffered a crease during shipping. Probably poor packaging. So the techs went to work using the right side panel on the left side of the coach. What I found out was the predrilled rivet holes were not exactly in the same place on both panels. The techs took lots of “fitting time” then decided to drill new holes in the bus structural frame members, using Clecos, and then riveted them all in place. You can’t tell the switch was made, but being an obsessive/compulsive, type A personality as well as an engineer, I did not like there solution to the problem.

So from this experience I learned that when replacing a panel face the side of the bus you are working on toward the sun.

[Andy]

Another old A and P chiming in… there is an inexpensive tool for determining the size rivet needed. The CherryMax Grip Gauge with Slide, the product description says:

“Slide the hook of this gauge through a hole, draw the gauge back until the hook hits the back of the hole and you can properly determine the length of the CherryMax and and CherryLock rivet required. Also measures the required rivet diameters.”

Kirby

[Archived]

Cheeeef,

Good to see You posting here. I would like to hear more about Your batteries sometime. Start another thread in electrical and share Your battery information with Us ? And I am sure many others would like to hear as well. Like How many Ah do You have, And tell Us about Your charging system and how long it takes to charge them up. Is there any downside to them , And how much does a setup like that cost ? Rough estimate of course. There are some super long threads in the archives on Li batteries. A fresh perspective from someone that has installed them and uses them daily would surely be welcome.

I know from Your channel that You live in Texas. Hope all is well for Your home and family in the wake of Harvey. And Be safe out there on the road.

Rocky

[Andy]

I’ve also enjoyed your videos of Cheeeef. Thank you for taking the time to make those. My own renovation is much more modest, in keeping with my skills. 🙂