Roll bar bolts

[Grit dog]

I’ll lob out a unique solution that would require zero hardware and be invisible. Assuming they’re all male to female connections in the tubing.
Dry fit it in the truck. Match mark the connections and then assemble with auto body panel adhesive/epoxy. It will be assembled permanently but I can’t imagine why you’d ever want to disassemble it again.
Or just slap it together with the epoxy and use temporary bolts or pins in the holes.
Cover the holes with some little snap in chrome or stainless caps…or not.

 

[nvrenuf]

I’ll lob out a unique solution that would require zero hardware and be invisible. Assuming they’re all male to female connections in the tubing.
Dry fit it in the truck. Match mark the connections and then assemble with auto body panel adhesive/epoxy. It will be assembled permanently but I can’t imagine why you’d ever want to disassemble it again.
Or just slap it together with the epoxy and use temporary bolts or pins in the holes.
Cover the holes with some little snap in chrome or stainless caps…or not.

The adhesive/epoxy is a great idea. The expanding rivets in the light bar I that eventually loosened up some, not enough to fall out but it squeaked and chafed the paint at the joints.

 

[Silver Square]

I forgot to ask, what was the bill at the chrome shop? Apparently it is incredibly more expensive than it used to be.

I don't even know off-hand were a chrome shop is anymore. I know there's a well known one in TN.

It was $1,200 for the rollbar and $450 for my headlight bezels. I went to Dallas Plating in Dallas, GA. From what the guy told me, all the other places that claim to do chrome plating in this area just sent it to him.

 

[Silver Square]

It's a 3 piece bolt together rollbar.

8 pieces. 4 lowers, the double hoops, and the 2 rear wheel tub bars.
24 bolts to hold it to the bed floor and wheel tubs, 6 3" or so long bolts to hold the upper hoops to the legs and the tub bars to the top hoop, and 2 more to hold the top bar connecting brackets.

 

[Silver Square]

Many manufacturers called them light bars,for a reason.I think the latest term is chase rack. They do make a nut like you are talking about,I'll try to find a link use button head bolts. I'll find some pics. See what these guys offer

Round Body Blind Nut Open

Round Open End Rivet nuts are used in round holes and do not limit the length the stud or protrusion of the male threaded part.

www.jcfasteners.com

The fasteners below biggest I could find was 3/8 16 also research pem nuts.

That looks pretty much exactly like what I was thinking of.

 

[Silver Square]

Thank you I didn’t pick up on that he’s looking for bolts that go thru the tubes to reassemble. My bad.
Then yup all great suggestions so far.
My only suggestion is peruse some online catalogs like Mc Master Carr or if you have a local hardware store with a REAL hardware section not Lowe’s lol, spend some time there.
It’s kinda nice, here we have a couple local or local chain hardware stores that have phenomenal hardware departments (nuts n bolts).
I’ve found obscure hardware there multiple times. Helps if they have a retired old guy working it who knows what’s in every bin in the aisle!

I'll check mcmaster carr, the maintenance guy at work could probably help me. I never thought about that. He'd probably be better able to help me figure out exactly the size I need.

 

[bucket]

It was $1,200 for the rollbar and $450 for my headlight bezels. I went to Dallas Plating in Dallas, GA. From what the guy told me, all the other places that claim to do chrome plating in this area just sent it to him.

That's significantly cheaper than I expected for the roll bar. Were the headlight bezels pitted?

 

[Silver Square]

That's significantly cheaper than I expected for the roll bar. Were the headlight bezels pitted?

There was some pitting, and lots of rust. They turned out pretty good. There are some very minor little imperfections visible in the finish, but overall, they are great. From what I've read about chroming pot metal, it is very difficult to get a perfect finish once they get all corroded and pitted. The areas where the black paint (yes, I know my '77 should be argent... black looks better) needs to be re-applied look pretty rough, but the guy said that the paint guy could sand them down and make it look good. I wasn't aware that you could sand chrome like that, but we shall see. He recommended me to a retired guy who likes to piddle, which seems to be the only kind of folks who will work on the old stuff these days. Glad I'm getting it done now before they all die and there's nobody left to do it.

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[Silver Square]

Unbelievable how difficult it was to find something in the right 3/8" diameter and 3" length in chrome, but I finally found something that I believe will work. https://www.grainger.com/product/Binding-Post-Assembly-1-4-5MB50?opr=ILOF It says it's only got a 2.25" grip size, but I figure with a 2-1/16" long barrel and a 1.5" long bolt, it should go into the barrel by 9/16". Since this isn't a structural roll bar, I figure if I loc-tite it, I'll be just fine. They have free returns, so I'm going to go for it. McMaster didn't have anything suitable in chrome or aluminum. They had stainless that I could have used, but it would have required a barrel extension and ended up costing a LOT lol. And stainless wouldn't really match the chrome finish on the bar. They only had 8-18 stainless anyway, and if I was forced to go with stainless, I'd have wanted 316.

 

[78C10BigTen]

Many manufacturers called them light bars,for a reason.I think the latest term is chase rack. They do make a nut like you are talking about,I'll try to find a link use button head bolts. I'll find some pics. See what these guys offer

Round Body Blind Nut Open

Round Open End Rivet nuts are used in round holes and do not limit the length the stud or protrusion of the male threaded part.

www.jcfasteners.com

The fasteners below biggest I could find was 3/8 16 also research pem nuts.

Also known as barrel nuts

 

[Silver Square]

Also known as barrel nuts

Yeah, a binding post assembly is what I ordered. It's got a barrel nut and screw, both with smooth heads, in chrome plated brass. The problem I was having was finding one thick enough in diameter to hold the bar securely, and long enough to work that was chrome plated. Grainger was the only place I was able to find one. They also offer it in a 3" long barrel, but it's got a 3-3/16" grip size. The barrel threads don't go quite deep enough. If this doesn't work properly, I'll return it and order that and just cut the bolts down to length. Trouble is, it's double the price. $144 for 6 fasteners is insane.

 

[78C10BigTen]

Yeah, a binding post assembly is what I ordered. It's got a barrel nut and screw, both with smooth heads, in chrome plated brass. The problem I was having was finding one thick enough in diameter to hold the bar securely, and long enough to work that was chrome plated. Grainger was the only place I was able to find one. They also offer it in a 3" long barrel, but it's got a 3-3/16" grip size. The barrel threads don't go quite deep enough. If this doesn't work properly, I'll return it and order that and just cut the bolts down to length. Trouble is, it's double the price. $144 for 6 fasteners is insane.

Yea thats lofty. Im glad to see youre adding a roll bar. I love roll bars but it seems they are goin the way of the dinosaur lol.

 

[Silver Square]

Yea thats lofty. Im glad to see youre adding a roll bar. I love roll bars but it seems they are goin the way of the dinosaur lol.

Old school rollbars are. But I've started seeing quite a few new trucks with modern style bars here lately. They don't look good, and the new trucks just can't pull off the look. They're more of a racerback/rollbar combination these days. Bolts to the bedrails. Always black, like everything else today... miserable and dreary. And full of square LED lights, also black.

 

[Grit dog]

Old school rollbars are. But I've started seeing quite a few new trucks with modern style bars here lately. They don't look good, and the new trucks just can't pull off the look. They're more of a racerback/rollbar combination these days. Bolts to the bedrails. Always black, like everything else today... miserable and dreary. And full of square LED lights, also black.

You mean headache racks?

 

[78C10BigTen]

Old school rollbars are. But I've started seeing quite a few new trucks with modern style bars here lately. They don't look good, and the new trucks just can't pull off the look. They're more of a racerback/rollbar combination these days. Bolts to the bedrails. Always black, like everything else today... miserable and dreary. And full of square LED lights, also black.

I love the 90s look of chrome roll bars, chrome nerf bars and lund lighted visors lol