Hi Mike! About your steering, when you say hard turn are you holding the wheel against the stops? Whenever I make a tight turn, I turn the steering wheel until it stops, then I back off just a little so as to be not holding against the stop but just so the wheel is free. That keeps the steering system from working to hard and it doesn't make noise.
As far as your rivets, can you run some short sheet metal screws in, with some sealant pucky for good measure. You may have to drill the holes in the mount for larger screws to fit, but that way it would be easy to open up again in the future.
P.S. I would use stainless steel screws!
Good luck!
Jay
