Removing the rivets

[crawlin91]

I know its a question thats been asked before but I did a search and didnt find much. Whats the best/easiest way to remove rivets. I gotta do all of em for my lift as well as the carrier bearing crossmember. All I have now is a electric drill, and was thinking of purchasing a electric angle grinder as I have no compressor for air tools....killsmyself

 

[86ford]

get a grinder and atleast 5 cut-off discs and 5 grinding wheels. take your time and dont damage the cross member. the best way i have found to get the rivets out once you have ground the heads off is to set a punch on the center of the ground down rivet and tap/pound til it comes out. i have also had luck hitting the cross member with a hammer and rattling the ground down rivets loose. you mite want to hook up with adam AKA littlebigfoot, he lives outside of denver and has done this many of times.

86

 

[Shran]

^^ x2

Grinding them off is by far the easiest way to go. I grind them down to where they're level with the bracket that you're removing, and then pull the bracket off with a pry bar and a BFH.

 

[crawlin91]

get a grinder and atleast 5 cut-off discs and 5 grinding wheels. take your time and dont damage the cross member. the best way i have found to get the rivets out once you have ground the heads off is to set a punch on the center of the ground down rivet and tap/pound til it comes out. i have also had luck hitting the cross member with a hammer and rattling the ground down rivets loose. you mite want to hook up with adam AKA littlebigfoot, he lives outside of denver and has done this many of times.

86

yeah pretty sure hes gonna help me weld up my perches/shock mounts on the 8.8 we will have to see how much more work I can con him into doing on my rig.lol

 

[BlackBII]

I found the easiest way is to use a grinder with a cut off wheel, cut and X on the head of the rivet, then use a hammer/chisel to get the head off(or an air hammer, but since you don't have one it'll be a pain) Then use the grinder with a grinder wheel to grind down any that's left. Then use a punch to punch the rivet out.

Good luck man

 

[crawlin91]

I found the easiest way is to use a grinder with a cut off wheel, cut and X on the head of the rivet, then use a hammer/chisel to get the head off(or an air hammer, but since you don't have one it'll be a pain) Then use the grinder with a grinder wheel to grind down any that's left. Then use a punch to punch the rivet out.

Good luck man

I laugh every time I see your avatar

 

[99RangerKrazy]

I laugh every time I see your avatar

haha sorry to get off topic but same here, i cannot handle that avatar....i liked it so much i found it on google and took a picture of it on my phone so i could set it as the background haha

 

[CopyKat]

Borrowed pictures.

 

[BlackBII]

That's what i'm talking about^^

I know, that avatar is freakin awesome

 

[crawlin91]

thanks the I might try to cut em like in those pics. Ill go get the grinder today.

 

[CopyKat]

A large hammer and a fat chisel works good if you don't have an air chisel. Also a large drift punch works for removing what is left. I'll cut the cross chip the head off and then grind down smooth. Makes for positioning the punch much easier. Most of the time I'll be holding the chisel and punch with vise grips. Keeps the missed hammer blows from busting your knuckles.

 

[c_note]

center punch them and drill the heads off. thats my prefered method and is easiest for me.

use a drill bit just a size smaller than the shank.

 

[LittleBigFoot]

When pulling off my rivited spring hangers for the 63" chebby swap, I used a grinder and cut X's in the rivot, and then used an air chisel. Worked pretty well for me. Fuckin loud when you're chiseling in a wheelwell.

A grinder and a hammer and a punch will do you well for this.

It can be pretty time consuming with not a lot of instant gratification. Kind of like being too drunk to rub one out and then just giving up.




Do you have a garage or a level place to work? I coud possibly load up some of my tools and shit and help you do the swap up there.

 

[Sunk]

I just ground the heads off then punched them through. When my buddy removed his carrier bearing crossmember, he insisted he had to use just a cold chisel and small sledge... He bitched and moaned about it the whole time, I have no idea why he didn't just grind them...

 

[MAKG]

I got pretty fast with a $5 Harbor Freight cordless drill at one time. There isn't usually electricity at junkyards. The trick is to drill a pilot hole ALL the way through first. No bit cuts in the center and big bits are worse than small ones.