While working on our 30 Chevy frame, we noticed that one of the front spring shackle mounts was a little loose. Not exactly something I want to get worse! How can you tighten up the existing rivet? I did a search but the only thing I came up with was to smack the **** out of it with two hammers. I'm thinking maybe a hammer and a dolly or heavy bar stock to back it up. Would you heat the rivet up or do it cold? Any other suggestions? It's the two on the top (actually the bottom as it's upside down) that are the loose ones. I'll need to take the boxing plate out to get to the one rivet. It's just tacked in.
If it was mine, I'd weld the whole bracket onto the frame, leave the rivets, if they've been loose a long time, probably the holes are worn as well.
I had some loose on a coil bucket in an old bronco I had, I bet I was under there 20 times trying everything to tighten them.. I finally grinded em out, redrilled and bolted it together and never saw the problem again.. I think once they loosen they wallow the hole and it's impossible to reuse the origional rivet..
The proper fix it to remove them and install new ones. If the holes got boogered up a larger size may be needed. Give Big Flats a call, they have everything you need, good people. Bob http://www.bigflatsrivet.com/
Yeah, something in the back of my mind says not to weld it. Not sure where I've heard that. Unless I can find someone with an air hammer I may end up bolting it. Just like the riveted look better. As for the holes being wallowed out, there is just a tiny amount of rattle to it. As much as we've been working on the bare frame we just noticed it, that's how slight the movement is. That's why I figured it could be retightened.
hey hey , heat it cherry red and block the back end with solid steel , like a body dolly and use a socket 1/8 of an inch smaller on top and whack the ****er real hard , your go to go , just check it the first 100 miles...if stilll loose tack the bracket..on high heat...time is money....lol
I replaced any loose rivets on my F100 with bolts over 30 years ago and they are still tight. Drilled the head off the rivet, drilled the hole out with a 31/64th bit and use 1/2" bolts with 1/2" smooth section under the head and spring washers. With the hole/bolt difference of 1/64 I had to hammer the bolt in, almost didn't need the nut the bolts were that tight. Do it one rivet at a time.
Shock bracket? I'd weld that rascal in a heatbeat and leave the rivets for show. The problem is getting it clean enough for a nice tig weld as you can bet there'll be rust and corrosion under it that will raise hell with the weld. I think the rivet warriors are more concerned with the crossmembers and keeping the right type of flex in the frame and that will raise thier ire when you mention welding. The proper way to loose the rivet - in case you are leaning that way - is to drill the rounded head with a bit the size of the rivet body, not the size of the head. drill down to about where the head would meet the body and stick the right size pin punch into the hole and snap the head off. Then you use the punch to drive the rivet out of the hole. Doing it like that leaves an undamaged hole ready for a new rivet.
Rivets can be reset hot or cold. Your typical air hammer/chisel gun like you'd find in body work won't reset a rivet as heavy as a frame rivet. You need to back the rivet with an absolutely solid "anvil" by that I don't mean you need a blacksmiths anvil but the typical body dolly won't do it you want to brace the back side of the rivet with a good solid surface that won't rebound easy. usually you'd want a rivet set tool but they can be set without one.You'll need a 2 or 3 pound hammer and a means of getting a good clear swing at the rivet. The idea here is to expand the body of the rivet to fill the hole at the same time pinching the 2 surfaces between the rivet heads.There are no gaps anywhere in a properly riveted joint.Bolt on the other hand hold by tension alone they stretch in length to pinch the 2 parts together while not very big if correctly bolted there is a gap around the shank of a bolt in a drilled hole.The Hammerman name comes from more than 28 years as a blacksmith I've hand set a lot of rivets in that time!
"Use a ****onhead . It'll still have the look" I was going to use ****on head Allen bolts on my '36 Ford frame, but when I went online to McMaster-Carr, there was a warning that ****on head screws should not be used in high stress applications. I drilled out the 5/16" rivets, drilled & reamed every damn hole for 3/8 (.375") and used a grade 8 hex bolt with a shank that exactly fit the reamed hole. Socked 'em down with Nyloc nuts - they'll be there for the rest of my life.
i also concur with racingonerobb , make life simple , drill out the ****er..lol..and use grade 8 for christ sakes...bow to the metalurgy gods
I'd remove the rivet, drill, and go next size larger ****on head allen, washer, lock washer, and nut.
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