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Has anyone here ground the rivets off and replaced or refinished the rear hangars? I see LMC sells one of the two and bolts with them.
I’m in the process of cleaning up my frame and wondering if it would safe to grind off the old rusty rivets and put some grade 8 bolts through instead.
I would be inclined to leave them in place and try some spot blasting and good rust proofing paint. Rivets expand in the holes when installed for a very tight fit. It's not exactly easy to just grind the heads off, you still have to get the rivet out of the frame. If the spring hanger is damaged or rusted beyond use then you have to remove, but for just a little surface rust I wouldn't do it. I had to replace shock mounts due to rust. Couldn't buy new at the time, salvage yard was only choice. My power tools at the time consisted of BFH and sharp chisel. Shock mounts are on inside of frame. From that day forward I had a lot of respect for the clamping power of rivets.
Sure. It’s done all the time on hanger relocation/spring swaps/shackle flips. The fronts are bolted on and I’m sure there’s Chevy spring write ups on here. I would use proper fitting bolts, drill and go up a size if needed.
How have you been cleaning your frame? That looks like a lot of material has been taken off with a sander or grinder. I'd be using a sandblaster or wire wheels.
How have you been cleaning your frame? That looks like a lot of material has been taken off with a sander or grinder. I'd be using a sandblaster or wire wheels.
Yeah 95% of it so far is with wire wheels and 180 grit sandpaper. The back section still had remnants of a spray on bed liner than had failed almost everywhere else and grinder was the only way to get through it. It may look a lot worse than it is, but I’m having the rest of it blasted next week
Sure. It’s done all the time on hanger relocation/spring swaps/shackle flips. The fronts are bolted on and I’m sure there’s Chevy spring write ups on here. I would use proper fitting bolts, drill and go up a size if needed.
Agreed. My rear hangers were shot when I bought my truck, so I had no choice. Grinding off the rivets and fastening new ones with grade 8 bolts wasn't terribly difficult, and getting all the surface rust off the frame was an added benefit.
Drill a pilot hole in each rivet head,maybe 1/4" deep ,with a 1/8 to 1/4" drill bit. Then use about a 1/2" drill bit to drill ONLY as far as the frame. You are only removing the rivet head. A chisel or grinder will quickly remove what is left of the rivet head flush with the outer frame.A punch will drive the rivet "shank" out of the frame. Attempting to chisel off those heads will drive you nuts and and grinding them off from scratch is almost as bad. As I always have a cutting torch available; I just zip heads off rivets and punch the rest out.
I did my rear shock bracket on my 86 with angle grinder. Wasn't too bad, the closer to the frame the more caution I took.
Can't help but hit the frame a little though. Than just a BFH and punch. Made pretty quick work out of honestly.
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