Hot Rivetting
 

What a B****r of a job! And they are only 5/16 inch rivets holding the suspension hangers on a GP frame. Would not like to have to re-rivet a CMP chassis!

Seriously, I found the key to success was a good quality air hammer - the 'cheapie' I had purchased some time ago for chiseling scale and crud was not up to the job, so an Ingersol-Rand with a quick-change chuck was the answer. Works a treat.

Just have the front bumper to go ..... but as it's a hot day here, it's just ticked past beer-oclock. Tomorrow will do....

Mike

I have done hundreds of carrier 3/8 rivets, and the key to success is plenty of heat and a good rivet gun. I unknowingly bought a 9X gun with the .498 shank at a farm auction. I noticed the difference right away when I used it, and it wasn't until I looked carefully at the markings that it made sense. It will do 1/4 or 5/16 rivets cold, but you still have to heat the 3/8.

I mailed it East a few weeks ago and have not heard back as to how it has performed.

I too have done hundreds of them. my gun has a 1 1/16" dia. pellet with a 4" stroke. Doing them hot allows the rivet to do what it is supposed to do. Shrink and tighten as it cools.
The key is a supportive assistant!

My son Jake and I totally stripped and re riveted a complete Ford Marmon Herrington 3A chassis with the exception of a couple of spring hangers. Because many of the rivets were flogged out and loose we drilled them all out to 7/16 and replaced them with the slightly bigger rivets. It took a week and involved making/adapting tools and jacks to load sufficient pressure especially in tight awkward spaces in and around cross members. I of course did all the hard work of holding the oxy and heating up the rivets. Jake just had to hammer them down and shape them. I didn't have the advantage of a suitable air hammer but I did have enthusiastic youth. Like Mike said, b****r of a job but the way Ford chassis' rust it was the only way to rebuild a good one.

You can always do it the old fashioned way without the air hammer
Lots of heat and reheat, buck, peaning tool and a big hammer :doh:

That's how the C60L chassis got done