Re-riveting

Ok, this is something I have never ever done before in my life, but with the attitude "how hard can it be" and "you can always learn" I started out googling the topic reading threads and looking on YouTube. So I drew some tools based on the old rivets head shape and asked a friend if he could help me out making the tools.

So with new tools, rivets, and a borrowed acetylene/oxygen torch I picked up my phone and called my neighbour and asked if he could lend me a set of hands. I have read that they can come in handy.... and they did. Believe me they did.

Punch in place on the air hammer (long stroke)

We test fitted the bucking bar and used a crowbar to keep it in place. The heating of the rivets where done out of the frame using a wise grip.

I was told that the protrusion should be in the range of 1.5 times the diameter of the hole. When I had cut the rivets to that length I couldn´t believe that that amount of protrusion could ever be forged down to a rivet head this size so I cut it abit more. This proved to be a mistake. The first rivet we tried was to cold and to short, so we had to grind it away. Aiming for the 1.5 and using more heat proved to be a success.
If you want to try this out my suggestion are preparation, preparation and preparation, all the tools need to be close and practise on how to get the rivet in place with the rest of the bucking bars as quickly as possible to maintain the heat. In other words, work fast as hell and hit it as soon as possible with the gun.

 The guy that made the tools also made the rivets. Make shure the rivets are slightly smaller than the holes when they are cold as they expand when getting hot. And believe be you really want to get the rivet into the hole when its hot.



 Second attempt, left side.

First attempt, right side

After the wire brush

The end result gave me pretty much no flex at all on the rear bracket for the running boards. These had been flexing a bit without any evident cause. The only thing I noticed before removing these old rivets was a small small flex between the frame rail and this cross member at these rivets, Almost not noticeable. See this post. But this made a huge difference. No more flex on the rear brackets.