For the hangers an air chisel or torch for the head of the rivets and hand chisel for the shaft of the rivets.

 

I followed the destructions from the midfifty catalogue. I hope they don't mind me referencing it. Most info here you may not need.

 

I had best success with using a cutoff wheel to make and X in the rivet head. Did this mostly to remove material of the rivet make the grinder work less. I used flappy disks instead of standard grinding wheel. Then a few well placed taps with a 8lb hammer and a solid drift and they came flying out.

 

Rivets can be a challenge. Each of us has our own method. I grind a flat spot on the top of the rivet then punch the center mark and drill with a 7/16" COBALT drill bit down about ½" or just deep enough to get below the bottom line of the frame rail. Then shear the rivet head off with a flat bit on air chisel. Then switch to a punch point on the air chisel and hammer the rivet out of the hole. Alternatively if the rivet is on top of the frame you can just grind the head of the rivet off level with the frame, drill it then punch it out. By the time you are done you will appreciate how good a job those rivets do in holding things together. Very strong !!!

 

 

I've found that drilling into the rivets as petemcl suggested makes the rivet removal a lot easier. It relieves the bite that the rivet has on the frame. Remember, these rivets were installed red hot and hammered tight.

 

^ this.

I also drill past the frame rail, then use a stout punch and hammer. My air chisel hardly ever gets them out.

 

There is also a good set of written instructions on the Mid-Fifty website. On their home page, just under the upper right hand part of the screen that says "F-100" parts, click on the Instructions tab, then scroll down to "Rear Spring". It will download a nice set of instructions that on about the bottom of the 3rd page, and the most part of the 4th, will talk about how to remove the rivets.