nut-serts before or after paint?

[Broncofan76]

the truck is down to bare metal right now. should I install the nut-serts in the bed rail (for hard top attachment) now on the bare metal? after primer and before paint? after final paint and clear?
I want it to look as neat and as well thought out as possible. My initial thought would be to prime once, then install nut-serts, then prime again including the nut-serts and then spray BC/CC over the whole thing?
thanks

 

[bknbronco]

I would do it now, then paint, then retap them out to clean out paint. Before or after primer dont really matter, but why not prime and paint them also so they dont look like a after thought.

 

[Broncofan76]

that is sort of what i was thinking. no disadvantage to not priming under them? I guess it its all sealed up there is no chance for rust or anything huh?

 

[Broncobowsher]

I would be more of a...
drill now, slightly oversized
paint and seal the metal
nutzert and let it form into the paint.

The roof rack on the Xterra has nutzerts from the factory and they put them on after paint.

 

[Broncofan76]

then i have the gold tops of the nut-serts showing - but they likely will not be showing much as I guess I will generally have a top of some sort. Either hard top or soft top with rails....

 

[u10072]

buy some junk maching screws with the right thread-- put in a turn or two to keep out the paint and such.

Make sure the zerts are steel not aluminum and they are super tight to push in-- last thing you want are those suckers pulling out-- I would highly suggest using a very new sharp drill bit so the holes are not wallowed out at ALL! Nothing sucks worse then zerts that spin in their holes-- loose holes are no bueno

Matt

 

[Broncobowsher]

Why not just weld a nut to the bottom of the bed rail now and paint it, completely skip the nutzert thing?

 

[Broncofan76]

welding a nut would work. I read about the nut-serts a while back and thought it sounded cool so ordered some up but in retrospect - welding a nut would be just as good I suppose. I'm gonna go with the nutserts and will buy some cheap bolts to partially thread in while I paint.
thanks guys

 

[bknbronco]

make sure you coat the bolt threads with some antisize!

 

[Broncofan76]

make sure you coat the bolt threads with some antisize!

will do. thanks

 

[rustbucket]

Make sure the zerts are steel not aluminum
Matt

Aluminum ones will also cause galvanic corrosion.

 

[pbwcr]

nutserts??

I would not recommend them. The metal is way to thin. Why not do it the stock Ford way? What is shown in the body adssembly manual is a strip of 1/8" thick metal with nuts welded on it. They use 3 nuts per metal strip. This keeps the thin bedrail from deforming. Instead of weld on nuts you could just tap the strip.
To keep the top metal from deforming just use bolts with large washers. I use buttom head for a cleaner apperaance. It would be even better to use metal strips on top instead of big washers.
PaulW
=============

the truck is down to bare metal right now. should I install the nut-serts in the bed rail (for hard top attachment) now on the bare metal? after primer and before paint? after final paint and clear?
I want it to look as neat and as well thought out as possible. My initial thought would be to prime once, then install nut-serts, then prime again including the nut-serts and then spray BC/CC over the whole thing?
thanks

 

[backpain]

welding a nut would work. I read about the nut-serts a while back and thought it sounded cool so ordered some up but in retrospect - welding a nut would be just as good I suppose. I'm gonna go with the nutserts and will buy some cheap bolts to partially thread in while I paint.
thanks guys

I welded in flat bar underneath, drilled and tapped.

If you are repainting anyway, you have lots of choices. I look at nutserts as an option when you don't want to refinish or can't access the other side - you can do both, so might as well think BIG!!

Oh yeah, I used flat bar on the top as well, and gusseted it to the sides in 2 places. Stepped up the bolt size also. Overkill, but I don't have to keep track of nuts and I am not using as many fasteners.

 

[Rustytruck]

I use drilled and tapped 3/8" flat bar. I use nutserts on my door inserts but over time they will strip and spin. Since on the door inserts I cant get to the back side during my repaint I welded the nutserts in so with a little luck and antisieze maybe this will be the last time I have to deal with those. It doesnt take much to spin and old nutsert and ruin your day.