Removing Rear Crossmember
Jul/07/2012 18:06 Filed in: Phase II
After some discussion we decided to replace the rear crossmember. It was in poor shape and sustained quiet a blow in a rear end collision resulting in a slight bow inward with tears and buckles in the metal at both ends near the rivets. We decided to also replace the “V-Brace”. Bad idea! We made another newbie mistake. [Check out the Learning Curve]
Removing the rivets was accomplished by grinding the top off clear down to the surface of the frame (carefully) until we could see the outline of the rivet shaft. Then we chiseled the other side to loosen the shaft followed by a center punch and multiple hard wraps with a big old hammer. In some cases we drilled partially into the rivet to help hold the punch in place. Patience is the key ingredient! The whole operation took about three hours.
