Not everyone has an air hammer or air chisel. Sometimes ya gotta make do with what ya got.

 

New England vehicles see a lot more rust and rot than other vehicles. As I said, I did it by hand to remove the rear shackles on a Ranger a few years ago. Make due with what you've got is true. I use two grinders, one with a cut off disc and one with a grinder disc.

the air chisel itself was $20 from Lowes. A capable compressor can be had for a few hundred bucks. A compressor is worth the investment for any auto enthusiast.

 

I removed everything from my frame other than 2 cross members so I can confirm a BFH and grinder work.

Something I did run across was that a few were mushroomed in such a way they couldn't be driven out and I had to grind and drill completely. It was like there was just a little space between the bracket and the frame and the steel was able to sqeeze out, making it to big to drive out.

 

True . But working on equipment , automobiles , and trucks for so long , I take for granted that people that are working on things should have tools . I can understand making do though . Gotta do what you gotta do .

 

Thanks everyone. My compressor died in the winter, unfortunately, and I haven't yet replaced it. I think I got a nice approach, sort of combo of a lot of ideas:

1. Notch the head of rivet with a cut off wheel and take the head of rivet off
2. Try to drive out rivet using pin punch and BFH
3. If that doesn't work (e.g. pin punch will often walk while you're using it), drill out about 1/4 of the rivet body using a 5/16" Cobalt drill.
4. Now, the pin punch has a good ridge to fit into, inside the rivet body
5. Pound the hell out of the rivet and it will come out. Wear hearing and eye protection!

 

The thing I don't understand AT ALL with the "use a die-grinder to grind an X in the heads" is - there isn't any clearance to GET a 3" die-grinder in there! do you guys have some sort of fancy telescoping die-grinder, or ???

I am considering using my dremel vibrator tool thingie (I forget what it's called) with the forward-facing carbide blade and cutting the heads off that way. I tried it on a section of a rivet head and it ate through it like butter. Unfortunately, it also ate off a few millimeters of the bracket. I looked on carID and it's only $29 to replace the bracket, so I guess i'm okay, except I have to wait another week or so (they ship slowly).

But getting the grinder in there to grind an X, I don't see how it's done. I'd love to see a picture or two of the grinder in place for making an X, but I don't suppose one of those will happen any time soon. I should take some pictures of my own.

 

yup thats the best way for me too, i never heard of anyone using a drill bit on a rivet, seems like it would be a good way to waste allot of time and money, these are solid steel rivets not hollow ones.

 

I use an angle grinder to grind the rivet head off. Then take a 1/4" drill bit or so and drill a hole past the thickness of the frame near the edge of the rivet. The hole relieves the pressure on the frame so the rivet can be driven out easily with a hammer and punch.

 

I helped a buddy do it this way once ..... it works .... we used a large pin punch so as to not expand that blind hole. We also had soaked the rivet areas with PB Blaster before hand .... but that was spring perches.

My Radius Arm brackets themselves are actually bolted to the cross member, there's 4 bolts each side .... and I have never had them out, they are OEM.

When I did the front bushiongs years ago on my '77 4x4 it was my first time .... and I installed a whole 14 piece polyurethane kit including the RA bushings, degreed C bushings, & track arm bushings so I did them on a lift with lift pads under the RA bracket itself. Loosened rear RA nuts some, spray threads with PB Blaster to soak. Raised lift just high enough to unload the front springs after removing lower shock bolts .... and we put a couple big blocks of wood my buddy kept close under the lift at center as a "safety".

Did one side at a time, and I used a comalong to assist ..... and I found that it helped a lot if I removed both springs and buckets and loosened all 8 front RA C-bushing clamp bolts so axle isn't held so tight by the "other side". Remove the frt driveshaft at pinion flange and tie up. I left the wheels in place to support the axle as we rolled it out on which ever side we was doing. I left steering connected.

I don't recall what we did about the one brake hose, I don't recall unhooking it but we may have ..... and just bled the front and it being so simple .... I forget. It was after all, in 1986/7 we did that.

I probably said a bad word or two during the job .....

Edited to add pics.

 

Quick question About frame repair after rivets are removed.

Back in the days of my Dodge W100, I repaired a couple of spring mounts. The Factory Service Manual frame repair section said that if any rivets are removed, that the hole be drill one size larger and grade 8 fine thread bolts and nuts be used.

Does this apply to Ford frames too?

edit: I checked my Ford Shop manual and there isn't a frame repair section in it... wtf, $40 wasted on an incomplete shop maunal cd! Or is the some ferd thing

 

Air hammers make life better.! Still, those rivets can be a real PITA. Persevere and you will be triumphant.

 

Yes, a lot of the rivet holes will have to be drilled to 7/16" for a 7/16" bolt. The rivet holes are an in between bolt hole size. Fine thread bolts are probably a good idea, but I don't think they are nessasary. Course 7/16" grade 8 bolts have a break strength of 15,900 lbs and fine is 17,800 lbs. It's going to take a hell of an accident to break the 7/16" bolts on a crossmember or bracket. It would be more likely to tear or break the bracket vs the difference in strength of course and fine bolts.

 

Okay, so basically... If these bolts are breaking, you've got bigger problems

FWIW, the bolts on the dodge never budged or loosened up in the years since I've done the repair.

 

The way I removed my rivets was easy:

1. take a dremel cut off wheel and notch an 'x' on the rivet head.
2. chisel off the four 'sections' of rivet head.
3. using a 3/8 punch, drive out the headless rivet from radius arm

I saw another post where someone said, and I quote:

"Sawed the **** off the rivet". I kinda liked that phrase. Redneck and crude.

 

You are exactly right. You would not use a 3" die grinder but rather, the cutoff wheel on the dremel.