Rivet replacement for 3.4 rear? Help!

The replacement 3.4 rear that I got has loose rivets holding the ring gear. The mechanic who is working on it got 5/16 bolts to replace but today he finally got out one of the old rivets and he measured at 11/32. So the replacement bolt would be too loose. No 11/32 bolts at Fastenal. He is stuck - any ideas out there?

Cheers, Dave

See reply in Post War section.

Dave,

Have you tried a metric equivalent ?

Mike in colorado

Mike:

Yeah, nothing close. We ended up going with the drill-out option, a machine shop is enlarging the holes just enough to take 3/8 bolts. Should be done today or tomorrow, then he has to reinstall the rear and we are almost done! Tranny went back in yesterday. I had to replace 4 of 6 gears. and all bearings. Also all new bearings on the rear as well.

Cheers, Dave

That's the way I would have done it. Make sure they put some high strength Loctite threadlocker on the bolt / nut threads ( and remove any oil contaminants beforehand with acetone or use the proper Loctite prep )

I've got a NOS box of the rivets, but I don't know olf any shop anywhere that cold install them. SayLaV