

If those cases, you’ll need to install one or more of the inserts we provide. Occasionally, the truck may come with holes in the panel but no threaded insert. Our S/I Side Steps for trucks utilize these factory-engineered locations (and others) for easy and secure installation of the steps. For example, on late model Dodge Ram trucks you might find nut inserts installed by the factory on the back side of the rocker panel for mounting side steps. Threaded inserts are used by truck manufacturers in numerous places to attach parts and accessories to sheet metal components. Once assembled and properly mounted on your truck, it makes for an extremely strong and rigid installation. At Spyder Industries we use them in the steel tubing of our headache racks for pickup trucks so that you can bolt the adjustable bed rails (or mounts) to the bottom of the rack.

Rivet nuts are often used in thinner gauge materials where strong, load-bearing threads are needed to fasten pieces together or where there’s no access to the back side for a traditional hex nut. Initially they were sold under the trademark name RIVNUT®, but today you’ll find various brands in numerous shapes and sizes as a type of blind fastener. Sometimes they're simply referred to as threaded inserts, or generically as Nutserts® (which is also a trademark brand name). This handy little fastener was developed by BF Goodrich in 1936 to mount rubber de-icing boots to the leading edge of aircraft wings.
