The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Rivet Removal

Greetings All

Has anyone used an air chisel for removing AD frame rivets?
Cross members etc.

I'm not sure my $10 angle grinder is up to the task....

Thanks

Pete

Just grind enough off the top to flatten it a bit. Then drill through with a small bit working your way up to larger bits. Just make sure you center it. Worked pretty well for me.

I personally used the drill technique,as jomichael said.
You can drill the rivet head to a point where you can chisel it off then use a punch to drift the remains through. Plus it's a bit less destructive! Good Luck!

Another method would be to grind an X into the rivet head, then chisle it off. You can then punch what's left out of the hole.

Not on an AD but on a Task Force.I used an air chisel with a punch type bit with success.Grind off the head and go for it.

Pete:
I got pretty good at knocking out rivets. First throw away that $10 grinder and get you a good one, you'll need one. I always grind the head off the rivet then take a 12 inch punch and a sledge hammer and knock the H#%$ out of it. The rivet will pop out so far you'll need a blood hound to find it.

easieast for me was to center punch drill with a 1/4 bit thru head only then use a sharp chisel.like butter.removed the main crossmember in my ad in a flash........dave

Drilling the center most of the way through and grinding or chiseling the head off, then punching the left overs out works most every time.

Personally I have a 14" long cold chisel about 1" wide, and a big hammer. I knock the head off with a few good swings, and then a sturdy punch will pop the rivet out. I find this method to be much faster than any others. But if removing more than a dozen or so at one sitting you may not like it. I was working on my truck in a place with no power or air, so the chisel was the only method available, I was very surprised to find it worked so well and fast.

I have tried the air chisel, and it is not as fast as my hammer and chisel, and damages the frame more. The air tool with a punch in it is very handy for punching them out after the head is removed with another method.

If you can't chisel the entire head off at once grinding an X in it with a cut off wheel will help.

Grigg

I agree thats what I did, then heated it with a torch and drove it right out

I like to drill a small hole, then a larger hole, then chisel off the head, and drive out what's left.

I know it sounds like a lot of steps, and when I have very many to do I use a pair of drills instead of swapping bits, and that makes it faster.

I find that sometimes changing methods makes the work more pleasant, and when I have a lot to do, such as removing all the brackets and crossmembers from a frame, the variety makes the work less tiresome. Any of the methods suggested will work on many rivets. Sometimes any given one won't work well on a specific rivet.

I'm pretty handy with a torch so I cut the heads off with it and push the remains out with an air chisel with a punch in it while the rivet is still warm. I wouldn't do it this way without some experience in using a torch though. You could get into the frame if you're not careful,
Scott

The proper way to remove rivets is to drill the head off, then punch out the shank.

I found rivets on my truck that had been installed into holes that weren't aligned. The result was that the rivet filled the void but would not come out like a normal rivet. If you use enough force on some parts, you can actually bend them. Also, I found some rivets were very brittle and the head shattered like glass. Other rivets acted like mild steel should.

The proper way is any way that will get them out and not harm the frame. The easy way... well that is debatable.

I find that the rivets have a "point" to them and to drill effectively you need to be able to drill in the center. I just took out my cross member and I used the 4 1/2" grinder to knock it down flat. Then center punched it, then drilled one hole in. I then used a punch that has about a 1/4 inch flat end to it and with a couple good whacks with the hammer they come out. Its more "steps" to getting them out but in the end it was less aggrevating and came out real "clean" with not damage to anything else.

My question is, what's that good looking "hottie" doing hanging out with Scott Ward?

I use a dremel tool to grind the center of the rivet down until its almost flat. Then I take a chisel and with 3 good wacks pop the rivet head of and the rivet out. Good thing for confined spaces I discovered especially where you don't have much room for a swinging a hammer. Less then 5 minutes a rivet and if you have new grinder attachments instead of old dull ones that I had less then 2 minutes and minimal effort. I used this method to remove almost all the bolts from my truck. It went quicker then salvage them

"The proper way is any way that will get them out and not harm the frame. The easy way... well that is debatable. "

I like to think after 36+ years building fighters I know the proper way to remove rivets. That's the way I did mine when I changed the front crossmember on my '54. Y'all go ahead and beat and grind all you want to.

As my old granddad use to say, "there's more than one way to skin a cat." I guess that goes for rivets as well!

I wonder how many fighters there are flying around that are made out of steel!

In preperation of having my grill sections removed for chemical dipping I had to remove about 50 rivets.
I had very good sucess with a dremel tool & flexible shaft. The bit I used resembles a small round ball at the tip. Very fast and leaves a nice clean hole after the rivet falls out. No drilling required all done with one tool. Hopefully this can help someone who needs to remove a lot of rivets.

Vickraft
Thanks for the detail on the dremel bit.

Im with 48bigtrucks on this one. Burn the head off with an oxy/acet torch and tap the rivet right out. Takes a little finesse and about 4 seconds. It does take a little getting used to.

Jeff

Thanks All for the advice
Thought I'd get 1 or 2 replys
Drill it is - now the angle grinder can go back
on the welding bench for pointing Tungsten

Dear Wrongpaw and Cletis. The most "effective" way and easiest way is ACHIPMUNK way. This is the way I found two years ago after trying all the other "proper ways". I had to remove all the rivets on a TF Suburban. I have lots of experience with aircraft rivets. They are aluminum, you can take them out with a Swedish army knife. The easiest, no damage to surounding area, using no air tools way is: grind down head to 1/32 to 1/16 thick (just thick enough so you can still see where the "middle" is) drill with a 1/4 drill about 1/4 to 3/8 and punch out (one hit). The reason you grind is to have the least depth to drill. No need to drill thru the head thickness. Also said was do whatever is best for you but this IS the easiest therefore a candidate for "proper". if I used the chisel technique on 100 steel rivets, I would still be shaking and would have a scarred up frame. Don't use a torch on your frame. You MAY relieve some stress on the material or warp it or God knows what. Why take the chance? Besides "beating and grinding" is a lot of fun!Bartamos. Sr. Mechanical Design Engineer Honeywell Aerospace. 40 years.

Well said bartamos. The only difference for me is that I grind the head down to the shank just before reaching the frame then I take a extra large punch and a extra heavy sledge hammer and drive the shank out. I hate drilling...

i have used chisel and about 3 pound hammer,- it works but watch your hands. i got a torch set up about a year ago, so now i go that route that it te easiest way

Mikes right if using a punch and big hammer you might want to use a vise grip to hold the punch or chisel. HWL (hard way learned).