What are you doing to hold the bolt in place, preventing it from spinning?

 

nothing. i put take the bolt, and put the nut all the way on it. then i put the washer on, and lastly, the rivnut. then i back the nut down the bolt until the washer and the bolt are resting on top of the rivnut. then i place it in the hole, and apply pressure with my ratchet at the head of the bolt, and try and to back the nut off of the bolt in turn backing the rivnut off as well. there is next to no grip for that hole that is shaped like a closed in wrench in the body of the truck. it is paper thin and cuts right through the hex shaped part of the rivnut. thats where my other nut came into play. since i was backing the first nut off and pinching the washer inbetween it and the riv nut, and it was spinning the rivnut instead of collapsing the hollow part, i put a nut on the backside of the rivnut at the far end of the bolt. i tightened it up against the rivnut to get some tension on the threads and keep the rivnut from spinning and backing off any further. it had nowhere to go now when i would turn the first nut. it had to collapse. no other option. i tried doing this in the hole, and found it really tough to get. so i pulled it out and just tried it in my garage just standing there, just to see exactly how hard it was gonna be to collapse this rivnut. it took me like 45 minutes just to get that 1 rivnut fully collapsed and the face wasnt even flat like it should be. if folded itself backward. it looked pretty bad. so i can imagine trying to fight with this rivnut that i can barely collapse outside of the car, much less placed in the hole and trying to keep it stationary at the same time.
the reason im doing all this is because both dealers in my are say there is no special tool to use to install these bars. they use a wire with a bolt threaded and pull it through and bolt it on. i think they are talking about the 07-08 models. they swear there is no special tool needed. so i told them, why do the directions say to use a rivnut tool and gives a number to call incase i need to get ahold of it? im about ready to put these things through the window of the showroom im so pissed. my wife can barely get in the truck cuz shes pregnant, the dumbasses at the dealer damaged my bars when they repackaged them after they realized they needed a special tool. they just tossed them in the box and into the bed of my truck scarring them up a bit. the parts guy said he would order some more but said he may or may not get anymore since there is some kind of restructuring thing with chrysler right now. im starting to like toyota a little more and more each time i go to the dealer.

 

That's your entire problem. As has been mentioned numerous times in this thread, you need to hold the bolt with a wrench, to keep it from turning. If the bolt doesn't turn, neither does the rivnut. The 6 sided hole that the rivnut goes it is simply a guide, it is not designed to prevent the rivnut from spinning. You need to prevent the bolt from spinning.

 

Well, I've found a nice set of Mopar steps on craigslist that I want to pick up but is missing 1 side hardware. I have an '05 QC Ram, are these the same rivnuts? If so, I'd like to buy 6 from ya! In in Indiana. Thanks!

 

hmm..come to think of it..are rivnuts even reusable? If I'm buying used steps with the hardware with them, will new rivnuts be needed?

 

Yep you'll need all new. They compress on to the sheet metal, so they can't be reused.

 

no no no. im sorry. i AM holding the bolt. im using a ratchet with a 13mm socket i think it is. im pressing down as hard as i can and holding it in place and turning the nut with an opened end wrench. when the nut hits the rivnut, it just spins together backing both off the bolt. it doesnt matter anymore anyways, i had the dealer put them on.

 

Thanks. I've learned that the '05 is completely different anyway. Uses an odd flat oval washer with the threaded hole in the middle...

 

Anyone know where I can get a replacement rivnut exactly like the ones that come with the side steps? Already tried the dealer and they gave me some M8x1.25 rivnuts that they use as replacements, but they are deeper and appear to have thicker sidewalls. Using the poor man's install method detailed here, they don't seem to work. I've tried 2 unsuccessfully so far. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

First post and new owner of an 09 Laramie. I picked up a set of Mopar running boards from the dealer. I paid $360, at cost for buying the truck. I took them home and noticed that I needed a sp called special tool, so off to the forum for some information. I found this thred and did exactly as stated. Everything worked out great. I has one of the rivnuts turn on me, so I went ahead and wrapped one layer of black electrical tape on the remaining rivnuts. With this, they slide into the car a bit more tight. This worked out great. This is a sure fix to the problem evenodds20 had.
Bottom line, very easy to do and no need to pay the dealer. Just follow the instructions listed above by ironsides and wrap some take to the rivnuts before sliding them in.
Thanks to Ironsides for this post!