[brittour95]

Allright mates - here's my tale, sad but true:
My '05 Tiger passed 43,000 miles and the muffler heat shield began to vibrate loose. I have the TOR can and the shield is held on with the ubiquitous pop rivets. A little searching on the forum tells me that this is an easy fix, just drill out the old rivets and replace to tighten up. Okay, I used to have a rivet tool, where is that thing? Much searching bore no fruit, fortunately my neighbor had one to borrow. Great, I run to the store and purchase a package of 1/8" rivets, go back home to find that these are much too small. Back to the store and purchase a package of 5/32" rivets, go back home and find these are also too small. Hey let's go back to the store for a package of those 3/16" rivets and how about some 3/16" washers for good measure. These work best and this is as close as I can get, but the shield is still loose! Can any of you wizened chaps give me some tips? I suppose Triumph sells the correct size for $9/3 rivets.

Cheers,
Brian

 

[TucsonBill]

This is a terrible application for pop rivets unless you go with the marine stainless steel ones. They are really tough, and would resist the vibration that wore out the original ones. I, too, have the TOR can. I used 5mm stainless bolts and speednuts ( U-nuts, V-clip, those things that clip over the edge of a piece of metal and have a threaded insert) and have had no problem for years. They fit perfectly over the little stand-offs the heat shield mounts on.

 

[brittour95]

That's a great idea, Bill. I'll do some looking around town. Where did you get your hardware?

I agree about the application of the pop rivets not being optimal, but they did their job just fine for about 35,000 miles!

Cheers,
Brian

 

[TucsonBill]

Mine lasted 30,000 miles. I have an Ace Hardware near me that has the most comprehensive metric fastener selection I've ever seen. Lots of SS stuff that I have used on various motorcycles. I try and replace most phillips stuff with allen hardware and do it all in SS. Stainless and loctite keeps Maggie in one piece!

 

[iansoady]

I just used stainless self-tappers on mine and they seem fine.

 

[pineygroveshop]

I too have used self tapping screws; however, they eventually shook loose. My experience with a riveter is that if it is loose when you are finished you did not push down hard enough while squeezing the handle.