Removing Frame Rivets

You'll need good bits and a strong drill.

I like to slice them with a cookie disc and air chisel the 4 fragments off.

An angle grinder with a big disc is probably the easiest for at home.

Ideal is a torch haha.

 

I'm not at home so no torch and no air chisel.
I'm thinking once the head is drilled to frame depth I should be able to pop off the test with a hammer and punch

 

Reporting back that it worked very well to drill them all out without any grinding like I thought. Just had to make sure to be dead center on the rivet head. Once I was about 3/8 in everything pretty much fell out.
Having leaf springs out helps immensely

 

The rivet body works by expanding to fill the hole as the head is formed and the back upset. Loose rivets were found by hammering as they rattled in the hole. The best way of removal is as described. Grind off,chisel off or drill off the head and drill out most of the meat as needed to relieve the expansion. Then you can punch it out. I'm sure you know but using the correct speed on the drill motor is almost as important as having a sharp drill bit. You can drill all day with a sharp bit at too slow a speed and not cut much. You can also burn up sharp bit after sharp bit with too much speed. When you see a nice continuous chip you have found the right speed for all practical purposes. The speed required varies with drill diameter. Bigger drill, slower speed. Always use dark cutting oil liberally on steel when you can, even WD40 is a big help.

 

Yep, I recently drilled my leaf springs to add isolators and that was a bitch and a half. Drilling these rivets out was fun in comparison

 

I know this is a bit of an older thread, but I just wanted to share the easiest way I've found to remove the rivets. I would grind the head off flush, as you do with any method. Then I just used my ball joint press, though any big C-Clamp should work, and in about 1/2 turn, the rivet pops out with almost zero effort. I tried using an air chisel, a punch, the drill... None of those were nearly as easy as the press.

Good luck!

 

sorry to revive this old thread, but I came here, literally, to find someone who had tried this. I have massive((MASSIVE)) c-clamps that should make short work of pushing out even a stout frame rivet. thanks everyone on this one who contributed. im installing hammer hangers, fyi, in case anyone needs to know

 

the key is grinding the rivet flush with the frame, not the og hanger. I've installed probably 15+ sets of these now

 

Ah! So cut them off the hanger, pop the hanger off, cut them flush with the frame and pop them out. Sound right?

 

yeah exactly. an air hammer helps a lot if you have one. sometimes it will pop the rivet out really quickly as well.

 

Meant to ask before: 15 sets!? For a shop? Also, I’m planning to just pull the springs to get them out of the way and chop the end of the exhaust. Does the benefit of those steps warrant the trouble of taking them?

 

Yeah I own a Toyota off road shop. We always remove the leafs!

Just did this one last week.

 

Very nice

 

that is a baller ass end.
I did one hammer hanger today while I had a few spare hours. Honestly, the rivets weren't that difficult. the ones in the side of the frame popped right out with a 3lb hammer and a bolt/punch. the bottom ones I had to drill, but it was easy as pie. I really don't know why anybody has to spend 30 minutes each drilling these out. they drilled out in 5 minutes max for me. I used a 1/4" bit for about 3/8" up into the rivet and then followed it with the 1/2". one of the easier parts of the whole process.
Driver's side tomorrow.

 

I just did hammer hangers I grinded the heads off poped the old hangers off ground them flush to the frame drilled a pilot hole then air hammered then out took about 1.5 hours to get all 8 rivers out