If you want to reduce the structural integrity of an "I" beam, remove one of the webs. I wouldn't trust it. Do you know what that piece is and what it was used for?
That is the "GOTCHA" of the day, I had to fully wake up to understand what I was looking at and would have applied the same method to accomplish the task. Somewhere in the Factory Dealer shop manual for that model there is probably instructions to drive the bushing out ___" and cut it off with a hacksaw and drive the rest out.