THE PORTAL HUB - Pinzgauers, Haflingers, Volvo 303s and more!

So how do I remove the wood side rubbing strips?
Some unscrew, some just turn. This makes me think there are " not so captive" nuts turning on the inside. Probably corroded to heck.
Is there a way to access the backside?

Thanks

The factory used rivet nuts to fasten the side rails to. Unfortunately over time they rust and loosen as you have found. The nuts are not accessible. I've found that sometimes driving a wood shim between the rail and the body as you turn the bolt works. Otherwise I just drill off the head of the bolt and then drill out the rivet nut. You'll need a rivet nut setter to replace them. Setting tools and rivet nuts are available from www.mcmaster.com as well as many other sources.

Is there a way to access the backside?

In a word, no. The "backside" is the inside of a square tubing. Drill the heads off the screws that are frozen; if they spin, wedge a screwdriver under the rubrail to create enough friction to drill the head off. Then pull the rail off the remnants of the screws and cut the screw off flush, then punch the rivnut into the hollow where they will stay. Replace the rivnut(s) and use antiseize on new stainless screws. Trust me, this is worth the work - you'll never have a problem with these again.

Wow, Paul, great minds think alike (or at least have had the same problem!).

I just did this last week. Since I am replacing my rub rail and did not need to preserve the old ones, I found it easier to drill through the wood perpendicular to the machine screw and through the screw. This was much faster than drilling the head that kept spinning.

Thanks guys. I'll do this on all of them.
They seem to have used the same method on the access panels.

Coenraad

I was reading this thread, so of course, out of curiosity, I thought I'd try and remove my rub rails for the first time. I should have taken pics for the "A ha" thread, because to my shock the screws turned so easily I thought they might have been loose. And not just one. All of them. I had the rails off in 5 minutes flat. Sorry, not trying to piss on anyone who have had headaches with this, I'm just completely amazed that they came off easily. No rust under there to say the least, which was my main curiosity.

Lucky bugger! It took 2 hrs to get mine off the first time! Then half a day to make new ones out of oak and to tung oil them. Half a day surface rust repair and threaded insert replacement... Now they come off as part of regular maintenance to check the paint underneath and to re-oil the rails.

Cheers, Clive

Yes, I feel very lucky, and only one small spot of rust bubble was even luckier! I will be refinishing them soon. That is if they can even be saved, but it's nice to know that nothing rotten is going on underneath

The wood against the body traps moisture and then rust begins. When installing new or refurbished rails of any type put a 1/8 inch fender washer as a stand off spacer to allow the rail not to touch the body. Really makes little difference in the design and function of the rail.

Removal on mine took a while... 4 bolts had to be drilled out, then the rest of the rivnuts all drilled in and new stainless ones installed. Some minor rust to be removed.
This was followed by a double coat of POR15 and topcoat. Strips have been re-sanded, and I'll coat with POR again.
The stand-off idea makes sense. May try this with some stainless washers.

Coenraad

When you drill in through the nuts, doesn't the remnant stay within the hollow tube and rattles or make noises or can you remove them from the hollow tube after your drill or push them through?

Yes several that had to be drilled stayed in the hollow of the tube, no way to get them out.
the pinz makes so much noise anyway that one more rattle isn't going to be noticed although I did not notice the pieces of the drilled out bolt making noise.

I replaced my wood rail with a 2 inch 'C' channel and used 1/8 washers to stand it off from the body. Only one screw refused to be removed so I drilled it out an in the body it stayed, who is going to notice one more rattle on this thing?
I had sheet alu bent to form a shelf and used that for a table for my morning coffee making, the shelf was then used in the rear to keep items from sliding out under the sleeping platform that I created.

Great idea with the c-channel. My 710 didn't come with any and I'm trying to decide what to replace them with. I really like the tube rails, but the c-channel is an excellent alternative. Decisions decisions!