[Shop-talk] Welding v. Rivets

[Jim Juhas]

I thought of that but it comes down to selecting the lesser of evils. The pure rust I found in the rails was extensive for a 9 year old truck. The question is whether the galvanic corrosion would be worse. From the appearance of what I found on the truck it's hard to imagine worse.

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> On Aug 3, 2016, at 11:13 AM, John Innis <jdinnis at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Aluminum rivets in steel are a bad idea.  Unless something is done to permanently coat the surfaces where the tow materials interface, there will be galvanic corrosion.  Just encapsulating the completed joint is not sufficient, you have to make sure that the expanded portion of the rivet in the hole never touches the steel base material.  I have seen this done with highly specialized rivets with some sort of interface collar, but I don't think plain aircraft aluminum rivets will work.
> 
>> On Thu, Jul 28, 2016 at 5:27 PM, Jim Juhas <james.f.juhas at snet.net> wrote:
>> I am replacing the support rails for the bed of my 2007 F250.  (I thought about a bed replacement but it seems the rails are the only rotten parts.  NO RUST in the fender wells!)
>> 
>> Once the old rails are removed, my plan was to rosette-weld in the new ones.  But, I have the ability to use aircraft rivets, probably 3/16" size.  If I do this, I can seal the entire junction with silicone, as I've done in my FFR Roadster. Welding will leave a place for corrosion, but would the exposure be better or worse with the dissimilar metal of the rivets, aluminum v. steel?
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