I've told here before how my co-worker at the junkyard used an all steel camping hatchet he found in the trunk of a junked car,to litteraly chop off cab mounts,and engine mount brackets on frames,or riveted crossmembers..
--when a customer wanted one and they were not able to remove it themselves--we had to do it manually,because the yard was located in a field surrounded by large pine trees,needles,etc,the place would have gone up like a bonfire if we used the torches or a grinder to remove rivets,and many of the vehicles couldn't be moved ,so it was either wait for a rainy day to torch the brackets off,or do it manually somehow..
One day we tried torching some frame brackets off,I held a old fire extinguisher we had you filled with water,and pressurized with an air hose..it was a dry summer day and it was a miracle we were able to put the blaze out we started with about 5 gallons of water,and our shoes,stomping around like crazy..if the wind had picked up the place would have burnt to the ground..
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The boss freaked when he saw the burnt grass the next day..
"No more using torches when its dry out--how many times have I told you that "?..
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This meant hours of agony drilling and chiseling,bashed knuckles,and we tried a sawsall but that damaged the brackets often,or we trashed a lot of blades when they would jam and fold up..
Then one day after the co-worker found that hatchet,he decided to try putting the blade at the joint where the riveted bracket met the frame,and whaled on the other end of the hatchet with a 5 lb. hammer,and to our surprise,it took only 3 or 4 good smacks to wedge the hatchet in between and the rivets popped,sheared in two much easier and faster than any other method like cold chisels..also the blade held up pretty darn good considering the abuse..and there was minimal damage to the bracket,a few whacks with the hammer flattened out any bends the blade made..
Yeas,it was rather risky bussiness,but we wore goggles and heavy welding gloves,and our only injuries were if we missed when we went to hit the hatchet..it was fun watching a customer's eyes when we'd say "OK,stand back and shield your eyes"--then proceed to remove the frame brackets with that method...they were like
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To our surprise that hatchet never shattered--it did get some deep divots in the blade,but we'd just put a keen edge on it with the grinder before each use..
I hate doing leaf spring u-bolts and shackle bolts too,I usually do not waste time and effort trying to save them,its much faster and easier to use a sawsall or cut off wheel to slice the U-bolts, and shackle bolts in between the bushing and hanger and pry the spring out of the hanger,then light the rubber in the bushings on fire with the torch and let it burn awhile,then the bolt,sleeve and bushing can be shoved out,leaving only the thin steel outer shell in the spring eye,which usually comes out easy--a quick slice with the torch or saw blade and it'll curl inward and fall out..
Usually you have to replace old u-bolts and spring bolts anyway..the sucky thing is trying to find 9/16" gade 5 or 8 bolts the right length around here--90% of hardware stores skip 9/16,they only stock 1/2" or 5/8" bolts..last time I needed bolts for leaf springs I had to go for a 30 mile round trip ride to find 4 of them--also had to hunt for a spring shop that had,or could make u-bolts while you waited..
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