First problem is even when straight rivnuts will not work well at all in wood! They require a metal surround as they crimp below the surface like a rivet does and that's where they get their strength. In wood, they'll just spin! Just try tightening one of those bolts all the way and see what happens.

That said, the best way to drill 90 degrees is using a drill press, but if you don't have one of those try making a larger/deeper drill guide with a scrap piece of hard lumber, and then using that to make your actual holes at 90.

 

Sorry if I was unclear (in the picture I think you're just seeing the washer, not the rivnut), the rivnuts are secured to the van metal in the existing holes (put some jb weld around them also since I've had issues with rivnuts in my truck as well), they are not secured in the wood itself (picture attached). I'm trying to attach the wood to the van by putting a bolt through the wood into the rivnut in the van.

At this point not sure if my holes are not straight or if I'm driving the bolt not straight, I'm thinking the latter since I used the drill guide tool and it seems to work well. Might just bite the bullet and get a drill press tbh, this problem has gotten me stuck good. Harbor freight has one for 80 bucks, worth a shot. I assume I can just put the socket bit from my drill into the drill press to drive the bolt? Or is it strictly for drilling holes?

 

How are you marking the wood?

You can sharpen some studs, screw those into the rivnuts, then press the wood against the studs to make the point indent the wood.

Then drill from the back side of the wood where the mark is.

You can also try using some kind of marking substance (black grease, or maybe fresh black paint) to mark the wood. Or in your case. clamp the wood in place and reach around the back side to mark through the rivnut onto the wood.

You could try putting a bullseye level on the butt of your drill . . .

Or the time-honored method of reaming the bit around in the wood until it works

 

How are you marking the wood?

You can sharpen some studs, screw those into the rivnuts, then press the wood against the studs to make the point indent the wood.

Then drill from the back side of the wood where the mark is.

You can also try using some kind of marking substance (black grease, or maybe fresh black paint) to mark the wood. Or in your case. clamp the wood in place and reach around the back side to mark through the rivnut onto the wood.

You could try putting a bullseye on the butt of your drill . . .

Or the time-honored method of reaming the bit around in the wood until it works

I put the wood against the rivnuts and used a tiny pencil through the back of the rivnut to mark them. I did a test run with a 1x2 and it fit perfectly with the bolts, but I guess with the 2x6 the bolt had more room to roam. I even used the 1x2 as a template to drill the holes in the 2x6 on this latest attempt. With the rivnuts (when not fastening directly into it, it's so difficult because you can't be even a hair off center it seems.

Just make the holes in the wood a little oversize. Then the bolts can have a little lateral play. Use a flat washer under the bolt head to keep it from sinking in to the wood.

The clamping force is what's important. Having the hole tight around the bolt doesn't contribute much, if anything, to the strength.

I'll try that right now, this wood I'm using is now scrap anyway so I can use it to test a few methods.

Drill through the wood and metal, install one rivnut. Bolt it on, drill more holes, unbolt, install more rivnuts. That way everything lines up. I just eyeball 90 degrees. Rivnuts never go in this thin metal EXACTLY 90 degrees anyway. You can stick a bolt in and adjust the rivnut angle. Make sure the hole in the wood is 1/16" larger than the bolt. Even so, I did have a hard time with a few. Needed a wrench due to the friction on the wood.

Yea this metal is so thin! The rivnuts I put in are definitely not at 90 degrees, I had to adjust them afterwards to get them as plum as possible (by eye at least). I might have to try this, though probably as a last resort. The metal is so thin I worry a little about putting more holes in it where it needs to hold a lot of weight, but it's probably fine.

 

Just make the holes in the wood a little oversize. Then the bolts can have a little lateral play. Use a flat washer under the bolt head to keep it from sinking in to the wood.

The clamping force is what's important. Having the hole tight around the bolt doesn't contribute much, if anything, to the strength.

 

Drill through the wood and metal, install one rivnut. Bolt it on, drill more holes, unbolt, install more rivnuts. That way everything lines up. I just eyeball 90 degrees. Rivnuts never go in this thin metal EXACTLY 90 degrees anyway. You can stick a bolt in and adjust the rivnut angle. Make sure the hole in the wood is 1/16" larger than the bolt. Even so, I did have a hard time with a few. Needed a wrench due to the friction on the wood.

 

If using a soft wood I would also put a fender washer on the back side of the wood to keep the rivnut in compression so it does not pullout into the wood.

 

Excellent idea, will do.

Just make the holes in the wood a little oversize. Then the bolts can have a little lateral play. Use a flat washer under the bolt head to keep it from sinking in to the wood.

The clamping force is what's important. Having the hole tight around the bolt doesn't contribute much, if anything, to the strength.

Just did this and it worked pretty well! It attached to the van well, but when I tried detaching it all of the bolts came out except one, which in a rivnut which is now spinning (which was jb welded!). So frustrating. Guess that hole needed to be a little bigger to allow for more play when going into the rivnut. Going to have to jb weld that rivnut again to get the bolt out. I think this method will work though, thanks.

 

The drill guide... Mark the bolt location by whatever method works for you. Drill just a shallow hole 1/16" deep or so. Place a drill guide over the hole and place a bit into the guide. This will align the guide perfectly with your location. NOW... C-clamp the guide to the wood! You can use two hands now and your hole will be 90 deg through the wood.

Now if your location is off, that's another story. Drill out the hole a little larger.

 

I did this and had similar issues, but also found 1" wood easier to correct with than 2" it looks like you're using. @JerryW nailed it regarding oversizing the hole in the wood - let the washer carry the load. I used epoxy on the rivnuts and it looks like you thought through that with JBWeld - any epoxy product will struggle bonding to metal without a catalyst, though. I used the West system from Gudgeon (?) Brothers and mixed in metal bonding catalyst I had left over from the days windsurf boards had metal mast tracks.

Truth be told, though, alignment is the biggest challenge! I hung up Mule Bag shelves from Adventure Wagon using the technique you're describing, and one of my holes was so far off I ended up just lag-bolting it...

 

Gluing Rivnuts... An option to using epoxy is to apply a bit of Shoe Goo or polyurethane construction adhesive around the body of the rivnut BEFORE you put it through the hole. That get's a bit of adhesive around and behind the nut. This makes a tough rubber "lockwasher" that resists a good bit of torque. You do have to wait over night for this to cure. Also it doesn't eliminate trying to get the best tight installation of the rivnut.

 

I thought of that but only after I'd installed them all haha. I've only installed rivnuts for the bed platform, so will do that on any other rivnuts I installed.

The drill guide... Mark the bolt location by whatever method works for you. Drill just a shallow hole 1/16" deep or so. Place a drill guide over the hole and place a bit into the guide. This will align the guide perfectly with your location. NOW... C-clamp the guide to the wood! You can use two hands now and your hole will be 90 deg through the wood.

Now if your location is off, that's another story. Drill out the hole a little larger.

Yep used a clamp on each end of the drill guide and it works like a charm, great little tool to have!

I ended up making the holes bigger so the bolt has enough play to get into the rivnut if either is a little off, and also put another washer on the other side of the wood (between rivnut and wood) and it's in there real good now. Need to do the other side as soon as I get the stuck board off, just waiting for jb weld to cure on the spinning rivnut.

 

I used well nuts, not rivnuts, but this should work:

First, I installed the well nut in the sheet metal. You can just substitute rivnut. Then I installed a short bolt through from behind. You could just use a bolt with head cut off. Run it in until only about an eighth inch is exposed. Then you can tip your pannel against it and give it a good rap with a hammer. It will leave an imprint exactly where you need to drill. I also put a little paint stick on the exposed shaft to help mark the location on the inside of the panel. Remove the stud from the rivnut and drill from the inside to the outside (with a good wood backing to prevent splintering) and you should have a perfect hole.

 

Also consider a washer between nut and the metal which ‘levels’ the surface and prevents spinning. The only way I could prevent that