Ouch.
CK5
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Abusfullofnuns Suburban going long in the rear
- Thread starter Abusfullofnuns
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Rivets suck.
Yeah, ouch! Always be wary of long sleeves (or hair, or necklace, or gloves, or...) around powered machinery. There are gruesome videos and pics on the net of guys getting their sleeves or hair caught in lathes and drill presses. Just be glad it was only a hand drill.
But then I've got an old gear driven 5/8" drill motor that takes a bit to wind down, and if it ever hangs a bit, there is literally nothing you can do while it winds itself up in cords and anything else it can grab. And you better not be caught between its side support handle (3/4" pipe nippled) and frame or other immovable force. You learn to be VERY careful of where your hands are relative to that handle...
Regarding the air chisel with punch to remove the rivet remains, I use a standard punch that comes in all the kits, and then put a very obtuse point on the end. Just enough that it can bite a bit and not just bounce around. Much of a point and it will expand the rivet shaft in the hole, then it's all kinds of fun getting out. Too flat, or rounded ball as they develop when not maintained on a grinder (and how many come new), and it just wants to skitter all over the place. And, the round ball also seems somewhat prone to expanding, sort of like a ball pein hammer.
But then I've got an old gear driven 5/8" drill motor that takes a bit to wind down, and if it ever hangs a bit, there is literally nothing you can do while it winds itself up in cords and anything else it can grab. And you better not be caught between its side support handle (3/4" pipe nippled) and frame or other immovable force. You learn to be VERY careful of where your hands are relative to that handle...
Regarding the air chisel with punch to remove the rivet remains, I use a standard punch that comes in all the kits, and then put a very obtuse point on the end. Just enough that it can bite a bit and not just bounce around. Much of a point and it will expand the rivet shaft in the hole, then it's all kinds of fun getting out. Too flat, or rounded ball as they develop when not maintained on a grinder (and how many come new), and it just wants to skitter all over the place. And, the round ball also seems somewhat prone to expanding, sort of like a ball pein hammer.
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@BadDog
It was just 3/8 hitachi, but it actually smoked the drill. It twisted me up and I couldn’t let go for more than a couple of heartbeats. It had the shirt wound around it about thirty times and was frozen until I could let go and it released. Arm actually looks a lot worse now than when the pic was taken.
Spot on with the rivet issue. I’m leaving a dimple in the rivet shaft and I assume it pushing out instead of through. I’ve tried blunt and pointy punches in the air hammer and moved it around. I’ve also experimented with distance trying to find the sweet spot. Seems t The hammer is just a shitty Lowe’s (medium stroke i assume). My compressor is tired too. It can barely hold 100psi with air hammer going wide open. It’s only a thirty gallon. I bought it 17 years ago and have used it pretty continuous. Not bad for low end craftsman. I’m going to go to harbor freight in the morning and buy a chisel and punch set. I was using a big roll pin punch but it wasn’t the right tool for the job.
Hopefully, I’ll get both perches off tomorrow. There are a bunch that need to be pushed through and two that still have heads. They’re both the ones inside the body mounts up top. I’ll try to drill from the side of the rivet and then get rowdy with the chisel.
It was just 3/8 hitachi, but it actually smoked the drill. It twisted me up and I couldn’t let go for more than a couple of heartbeats. It had the shirt wound around it about thirty times and was frozen until I could let go and it released. Arm actually looks a lot worse now than when the pic was taken.
Spot on with the rivet issue. I’m leaving a dimple in the rivet shaft and I assume it pushing out instead of through. I’ve tried blunt and pointy punches in the air hammer and moved it around. I’ve also experimented with distance trying to find the sweet spot. Seems t The hammer is just a shitty Lowe’s (medium stroke i assume). My compressor is tired too. It can barely hold 100psi with air hammer going wide open. It’s only a thirty gallon. I bought it 17 years ago and have used it pretty continuous. Not bad for low end craftsman. I’m going to go to harbor freight in the morning and buy a chisel and punch set. I was using a big roll pin punch but it wasn’t the right tool for the job.
Hopefully, I’ll get both perches off tomorrow. There are a bunch that need to be pushed through and two that still have heads. They’re both the ones inside the body mounts up top. I’ll try to drill from the side of the rivet and then get rowdy with the chisel.
If you've expanded it in the hole, it may be hard to get out. To release some of the pressure, drill through (past the plate into the back side head, but not necessarily "through") with a ~1/4 drill. Then, either blunt/make a punch to span the hole, or work it from the sides, being careful not to dig into the material surrounding. If you do that (dig into surrounding), then it can make things worse, effectively "staking" the rivet into place. Good luck. They can be bastages.
And, you may be right about the equipement making it harder. I've got an old IR chisel with an 80 gal Curtis compressor. I run out of go long before it's ever even gotten warmed up. And it's STILL a total PIA on some of them. Others pop right out. As others have said, the blue-wrench can make it a lot easier/faster, and with some skill/finesse and the right tip you can take a rivet out without any real damage to the surrounding material. But it doesn't help a lot in tight spaces where you can't really control the action, and those are the same ones that are hard to remove mechanically, so with a few exceptions, I almost never do it that way.
And, you may be right about the equipement making it harder. I've got an old IR chisel with an 80 gal Curtis compressor. I run out of go long before it's ever even gotten warmed up. And it's STILL a total PIA on some of them. Others pop right out. As others have said, the blue-wrench can make it a lot easier/faster, and with some skill/finesse and the right tip you can take a rivet out without any real damage to the surrounding material. But it doesn't help a lot in tight spaces where you can't really control the action, and those are the same ones that are hard to remove mechanically, so with a few exceptions, I almost never do it that way.
Ouch on the long sleeves.
Maybe I've just gotten lucky and the last rivets I've done weren't nearly as difficult as yours. Amazed that you've got the heads off and a 3lb hasn't knocked them loose yet. Maybe your rivets were welded in.. lol
Maybe I've just gotten lucky and the last rivets I've done weren't nearly as difficult as yours. Amazed that you've got the heads off and a 3lb hasn't knocked them loose yet. Maybe your rivets were welded in.. lol
I use the plasma cutter to remove the heads flush and then knock out the rivets.
Only once I had trouble, the rivet was not round or straight which is weird because they are supposed to shrink when they cool down and put tension on which should make them straight.
I also drill the holes clean and a little oversize and use bigger bolts
Only once I had trouble, the rivet was not round or straight which is weird because they are supposed to shrink when they cool down and put tension on which should make them straight.
I also drill the holes clean and a little oversize and use bigger bolts
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I’ll just say that the rivets on these rear spring perches have been 10X harder than the front shackle hanger or the engine crossmember. I have struggled more on one river than all the other projects combined.
Perches are out and rivets are still stuck various places. I’m about to fire up the BGE for some ribs, so I’ll have two hours or so to mess around.
Next issue to tackle is the frame sliders interfere with the preferred point of perch relocation. I’ll have to reduce the frame slider mount and masssage the perch to fit. .25 to .5 interference for a couple inches between the perch bolt holes.
Perches are out and rivets are still stuck various places. I’m about to fire up the BGE for some ribs, so I’ll have two hours or so to mess around.
Next issue to tackle is the frame sliders interfere with the preferred point of perch relocation. I’ll have to reduce the frame slider mount and masssage the perch to fit. .25 to .5 interference for a couple inches between the perch bolt holes.
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Made good progress and decided to give the neighbors a break for the night.
All rivets are out!!
I had to drill out a few that refused to come out. All of those go through the bottom of the frame rail to the crossmember. The ones that I didn’t drill took a crazy amount of work to come out. The problem was the backside of the rivet was in the crossmember itself and the frame was sandwiched in between that and the lower spring perch. The crossmember wasn’t a solid enough base to allow the rivet to break free. It just flexed the crossmember up.
I’ve got the crossmember all bolted back up and I’ll need to address the frame plates of the rock sliders next.
Here’s a progress update on the drill incident.
All rivets are out!!
I had to drill out a few that refused to come out. All of those go through the bottom of the frame rail to the crossmember. The ones that I didn’t drill took a crazy amount of work to come out. The problem was the backside of the rivet was in the crossmember itself and the frame was sandwiched in between that and the lower spring perch. The crossmember wasn’t a solid enough base to allow the rivet to break free. It just flexed the crossmember up.
I’ve got the crossmember all bolted back up and I’ll need to address the frame plates of the rock sliders next.
Here’s a progress update on the drill incident.
Wow! At least it only hurt. No permanent damage.
Got my shirt caught in a dotco once when I was staring out. Left a nice baseball sized bruise on mah belly!
Re: knocking out rivits, we use pin punches at work. Of course, auto rivits are a bit tougher.
Re: knocking out rivits, we use pin punches at work. Of course, auto rivits are a bit tougher.
