I'd take a flat type chisel, stick it between the bracket & the frame & pound that in to pop off the bracket. Wish I would have seen this before lunch break as I would have taken a pic of the one I use all the time.

Once you get the bracket off like this grind the rivet flat to the frame & then pound away.

 

Chase,
Do you think you could find a pic on the web so I could see what you used?

 

something like the bottom one here should work. Mine is a bit flatter & tapers down really thin on the end, but this is close enough & this type is more common.

 

Thanks!
I'm gonna go pick one up.

 

Where did you get it?

 

If you knock the bracket off first, you will have to grind all the rivets down flush again. Thats what happened to me yesterday. The less rivet you have, the easier to punch out. Just get it down to the bare metal and it should come out pretty easy.

 

mine? Used in a lot of tools I bought.

You can get chisels like the above at home depot, etc. though. You may want to grind the end a bit flatter depending on what you find.

Also - I found a pic of mine. Shoot me your email address in a PM & I'll email it to you.

 

As for progress today - It was raining most of the day but I did manage to get all four rivets ground down flush with the hanger.
It's not really much, but it made me happy.

 

Once you are done with all 8 you will probably be thinking a add-a lift and a little taller block sounds good.

Hang in there with it.......

Yes grind it as flat as you can even getting in to the bracket, but just a bit will not hurt anything.
Yes get the bracket off and and keep grinding,
Yes PB blaster on the back side.

And I really like the short bolt and vice grip trick.

 

use Kroil. that stuff works.

 

Now you have it flat, you can centre punch it and drill it out to around 1/16th under the rivet diameter. I dont drill all the way though, probably leave 1/8th. That gives you something to still pound on.

If you drill it then use the thin chisel that Chase suggested, the brackets will pop off much easier. It is all about relieving the pressure created from pounding that metal slug in there in the first place.

 

This seems like a good idea. I would definitely try this!

-Brad

 

Progress- I wasn't able to do anything yesterday because I was helping a buddy put a 302 in his Comet. So today after I woke up I went out and started banging on the top left rivet and after about 20 times. Nothing. So I moved on to the top right one, I gave it a couple good wacks and it actually was starting to come out. So I managed to drive that one out and the other 2. So now I just had the top left one left. So I pried the hanger off, grinded it flush with the frame and pounded that sucker out.
Here's a couple pics.

 

Good work. It isn't so hard once you do a couple.

 

4 done, 4 to go, hang in there......