Hot Rivetting

[Lynn Eades]

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!

[jack neville]

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.

[aj.lec]

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

That's how the C60L chassis got done