what is this?

[CPNE]

Originally Posted by shifty

here's the shortcut - i got it out in less than 90 minutes.

take a sawzall, cut the center of the xmember out. then cut the top and bottom of the xmember within an inch of the framerails (you'll need that overhang later). after that is done, sawzall the rivet heads off the top and bottom of the framerail (it's 100 times faster than grinding them).

Once you got the rivet heads off, beat the last pieces of the xmember out with a BFH and it will pull the rivet with it.

Guess you gotta work with the tools you got. My suggestion is get an oxy-acetylene torch, 3 pound hammer, set of punches, and a cold chisel. When you get good with the smoke wrench you can cut the heads of the rivets off without hurting the frame, then heat around the rivet hole to expand the metal for easy removal with the punches and chisel.

Takes way less effort/time and you don't have the carnage and trashed frame parts you see here. Plus the skoke wrench works wonders on all kinds of rusted and hard to remove fasteners. Once you've used heat you won't go back. Sawz-alls are good for quick amputations of rusted sheetmetal as seen here.