The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Frame Rivets

Ya know.. I could just edit or delete that last post.. I was being a [censored]. But nothing pisses me off more than when good intentioned people make statements based on years of experience, and ALL of my friends are in their 70's, 80's and 90's. They are SURE they know it all by now. They love spending time with this mid-50 year old because I tell them.... on the other hand, would THIS work? or would THAT work? They give me lots of static to begin with, then succumb to the notion that says... 'let the kid screw up so he will learn.. we can witness it, and he wont ever bring it up again.' After a few years of this, the NEW thing they do to me is, surprise me with shortcuts that work as good or better than the advertised, tried and true, nothing but this, method. We all get a laugh out of it. Denny.. if you were one of them, I would value your counsel as much as them. So, think of it this way.. YOU ARE one of them! I have learned so much from you in the past.. you will never know. Grigg too! So, don't be too hard on me. I found a good way to do this without help. Its getting harder to find since most of your/my friends are in the home. I spend a lot of time on this procedure making sure the rivets were RIGHT through and through. Not only am I proud of it, but so are all of my friends, some who I had to read it too because they are old and cant see! In any case, I mean well when I make these instructions for others to follow.. and if I am wrong, and you can show me, don't be bashful.

Deve, what really counts in the end is if you are satisfied with
the results, what me or anyone else feels is of no consequence.
I believe in sticking with the tried and true unless those results
are inconsistent and can't be relied on.
I'm sure your method will render a better solution than a
threaded fastener, I simply don't feel it would yield the
same results that I would expect from using the industry
standard.
But it can't be said to often, that's just my opinion, and
everyone is entitled to their own.

FIN
Denny Graham
Sandwich, IL

I know Denny.. so what I try and do when one of my old friends says to 'try this' is I DO it, then see if the results are satisfactory. In this case, WOW! No need for the second person. I went to a lot of trouble to use a hacksaw to remove the heat factor to cut off the head of the rivet, then with a 12" punch and a very large ball peen hammer, drive out the rivet. If it were anything like you guys think, the rivet would fall right out. In this case, it took more than 5 progressively hard blows and when it did finally release, it pinged clear across the room. I had to then straighten the frame before doing it again.

It works really well or I wouldn't put my name on the document. Next time you are alone in the shop (for me all the time) and you need to do some riveting, give it a shot. Riveting is pretty cool.. something you can say you have checked off the bucket list. AND Carl.. if I could find polished stainless rivets that stayed that way thru the process.. I would be in a whole nother place! How cool would that be!

Mind. Blown.

End of discussion.