T nuts

[adlibdrama]

Has anyone used T nuts to connect their frame and body together?

I was thinking that if I used a pattern to locate the holes, I could embed the T nuts in the bottom of the wall before I closed the wall up. Then using the pattern, drill the holes in the floor and frame. Then run the bolts up through the frame, floor and into the bottom rail of the wall. Once the bolts are tightened down a bit, I would think there should be plenty of force to keep them solidly located.

any thoughts?

[Miriam C.]

Mine are in the floor. I did my inside wall after I bolted it down. The rails on the sides of the trailer didn't lend it's self to using larger bolts. I drilled through the bottom of the frame and floor then inset the T-nuts...

[TomW]

I used 5/8" t-nuts. I used about 30 stainless steel bolts, washers, and lock washers.

Be careful when tightening the bolts. The force of the pull down will crush soft plywood if you are not careful. After I about a month, I went back, re-tightened, and then applied locktight from the top just to make sure the bolts would not try and back out. (Maybe and overkill)

[artfd]

I've used them to frame my homebrew wooden camper shell using T-nuts with barbs, they've never loosened. If you are drilling by hand, you must be sure that the axis of the T-nut and the axis of the hole match. Otherwise when you come to install your bolts, you may find the tip of the bolt will not thread into the T-nut. One way to make this happen when you drill the hole for the T-nut, is not to hammer the T-nut into place, but snug up a short bolt until the T-nut's barbs sink into the wood and fully wedge the nut in place.

[kennyrayandersen]

t-nuts rock (also I never had any trouble whacking them into place IF the thing you're whacking is robust -- I'm not sure a teardrop falls into that category!).

[artfd]

I've whacked them into place only to find the bolt will not thread from the other side, and T-nuts are kind of hard to realign once in place.

[Steve_Cox]

I put my fenders on with them