Date: Tue, 12 May 2009 09:09:35 -0700
Reply-To: Andrew Martin <campahvan@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Andrew Martin <campahvan@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject: Re: broken gas pedal
In-Reply-To: <4D31C7F7-8C2A-45EE-BE03-A705415D529E@mac.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I'm with Kim on this.
I used two 1/4" aluminum pop rivets with backing washers. I did it
singlehandedly by applying a small dab of clear silicone to washer before
sliding it on the rivet. The washers stayed in place while I slowly
squeezed the tool and the silicone sealed out any water that might leak
around the rivets.
Steel rivets would work too (perhaps better and without possible
electrolysis associated with mixing metals) but I couldn't find any steel
pop rivets that size when I did the repair.
If the holes in the floorboards are rusted out and way oversized, you have a
much bigger project on your hands.
Andrew
Bainbridge Island WA
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Kim Brennan
Sent: Tuesday, May 12, 2009 7:33 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: broken gas pedal
Bah. Replacing the rivets with oh, say, new rivets, is a one person
job, takes only a couple of minutes, and will last another 20 years.
On May 12, 2009, at 3:32 AM, Max Wellhouse wrote:
> Joy: Mike is right about this fix being a 2 person job. I would
> only add that when I did this repair, I reamed out the two holes with
> a 3/16th's " drill bit and installed stainless steel phillips head
> machine screws(#10 or 3/`16th" available at most any hardware store
> like an Ace or Trustworthy or Tru-Value) and stainless steel washers
> on both sides. I wanted this to be the last time I had to "screw"
> with this repair. Our local Ace Hardware store has an awesome
> selection of stainless steel fasteners, but I'm sure others do
> too. Tools needed to do the repair would be something to scrape all
> the mud and grunge away from the area, a proper sized phillips screw
> driver, the aforementioned drill and bit,and a 1/4" drive rachet with
> a long extension and a 3/8" socket; a deep wall socket if you use a
> long screw. tighten the screws so they are firmly in there, but not
> so tight that you stress the plastic in to cracking. There's an
> outside chance that it's the rivets that failed in the floorboard and
> not the hinge failing, but Matilda maybe deserves a new pedal after
> all these years. I priced the little piece of linkage that connects
> from the pedal to the bell crank under the van and they wanted like
> $25 for that little piece of steel. I think even Bus Depot gets like
> $12 or 13 last time I checked.
>
> A 3/8th's inch wrench or even a vice grip will work in a pinch if
> tools are hard to come by, but that forces the person inside the van
> to do all the twisting and the initial resistance with the nylox nuts
> is sufficient to give the average forearm muscle serious fatigue.
>
> T
>
> FWIW, mine failed a year or two ago when it was below zero out and
> that was one cold repair. Finding a fellow co-worker to help was a
> challenge in the company parking lot.
>
> DM&FS
>
>
>> Joy Hecht wrote:
>>> The bottom end of the pedal, which apparently should be attached to
>>> something in the floor, is not
>>> attached to anything.
>>
>>
>> From the factory, the pedal was attached to the floor with two
>> rivets.
>> Those rivets broke on my '84 automatic and I fixed them with screws
>> and nuts. In that I usually work alone, I had no one to hold the
>> nuts
>> to get the screws started so I used JB Quick to attach them to the
>> underside then put the screws in from the top.
>>
>> They later broke on my '85 standard ... away from home, of course,
>> so I
>> punched out what remained of the broken rivets and ran long wood
>> screws
>> through from the top. They didn't actually screw to anything ...
>> they
>> just sat in the holes. Anyway, that "Temporary" fix to get me home
>> lasted over a year until I put screws and nuts on there.
>>
>> Mike
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