rocklobster

I'm building a small playground for my son so, when I happened across a tube slide on Craigslist, I got it. The slide came from an elementary school playground and had been dismantled. On one end of each piece, there were tubular nuts to receive a bolt but no bolts to go with it. I found hex head bolts to fit.

The tubular nuts, or whatever they're really called, had teeth on them to hold them in place while you threaded in a bolt. The problem is, putting two pieces of this monster together is a royal pain.

I found it a little easier if I knocked out the nuts, put it together, and then put the nuts and bolts back in.

Problem: When I put the nuts back in, the plastic slide hole is stripped enough to keep the teeth from grabbing and holding it in place. The nuts are very smooth on the inside of the slide, naturally, and so there's nothing to grab onto.

Any ideas? I'd like to find a similar nut that has a place for a hex wrench to fit it, but I can't find one and don't know what they're called. I also thought about using some glue to hold the nuts in place, but I'm not sure how well that would work.

If you have a thought, please share it before I set this thing on fire.
Hope the pics help.

Thanks, Rob

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woodnthings

Used in automotive applications. It's a blind side nut which clinches from one side like a pop rivet. Don't know where to get them. There are other bolts called grain bin bolts that have a washer type head built in with serations to grab. I would think for a tube slide you'd want a carriage type head on the inside sos it won't tear you fanny off when going over. Why not just square file the round hole and use 1/4 -20 carriage bolts? JMO bill

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rrbrown

I was just going to say the same thing, However Bill said it first.

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rocklobster

I thought about it real hard, and then decided I'd buy the carriage bolts if glue didn't work. I put some Gorilla glue on the nuts and it held them well enough to get the bolts in.

On the next piece I just worked a little harder with the pry bar and managed to get it on without knocking out the nuts. One more to go, and I ain't looking forward to it. It gets harder to put together as it gets bigger.

Thanks, guys.

Rob

woodnthings

Hot glue will hold things temporally if non porous like plastic, or permanently, if porous like wood. bill

__________________
Never stand directly in front of a horse or tablesaw that's running!
If you're not making dust, you're gathering it. After I reread my own posts, I agree with myself even more.