Always Difficult Pin/Rivet Removal

[ivaldes1]

I have a personal problem. Every time I attempt to remove a rivet or pin it turns into a mess. When you drill or grind off the head the landmarks are gone. When the landmarks are gone it is tough to do anything drill or drive it out. Then you risk destroying the piece. My rim spreadèr has something wrong with it. I want to take the hook off and see if it is stripped or something in the way. I have been pounding on the pin in the hole I drilled but it refuses to budge and I don’t want to mangle the pin on the other side by grinding the pin head off and making another mess. This always happens everytime I try to remove a pin or rivet. It becomes a mess. What am I doing wrong?

[R.V.Anderson]

After cutting or grinding off the head, put some paint thinner in a suitable container (coffee can, piece of water pipe, etc.) and let the part soak for several hours or overnight. Remove it, wipe it dry with a rag, then sprinkle some baby powder over the area. The thinner that has seeped into the shaft around the rivet shank will seep back out into the powder, which will then show a circle precisely where the pin is.

[ivaldes1]

That sounds good and I will try that in the future. So I put it aside, had dinner, came back to it and tried a smaller punch. It must not have caught an edge and the other punch must have been catching an edge because it started moving with the smaller punch.

Unfortunately I cannot find any obvious damage on the spreader. I think that the threads on the inside of the gear on the shaft or the shaft itself must be too worn out to catch the threads any longer.

After cutting or grinding off the head, put some paint thinner in a suitable container (coffee can, piece of water pipe, etc.) and let the part soak for several hours or overnight. Remove it, wipe it dry with a rag, then sprinkle some baby powder over the area. The thinner that has seeped into the shaft around the rivet shank will seep back out into the powder, which will then show a circle precisely where the pin is.

[TRDxB2]

I stop grinding when the head of the rivet is almost flush with the piece. Then punch the center, use a small drill to start a hold and then a larger one that will leave a thin collar just below the surface of the piece and drive the rivet out. Quick and no grinding marks on the piece that way

[Allan]

Ignatio, if you grind one end of a rivet off flush, it does make it difficult to see what is rivet and what is surrounding it. A good trick then is to pound on the other end of the rivet. This will usually cause the previously ground end to be shown up.
Centre unch the rivet first. ThenI drill the rivet 3/4 of the way through, starting with a small drill, and advancing to a larger one until your hole just cuts the side out of the rivet. Then use a pin punch in the drilled hole. The portion of the rivet NOT drilled becomes the stop on which the punch drives. There being little of the rivet left in the assembly, it will usually come right out easily.

Hope this helps.
Allan from down under.

[Bill Coyle]

Another trick to see the edges after the pin is ground flush is to use just a little heat from a torch. It will discolor the sharp edges of the pin and hole.

[Humblej]

Did you finish mounting your tires before the rim spreader broke?

[Norman Kling]

Many years ago (about 25 or 30) I was looking for a rim spreader. I happened to be going on a trip from San Diego to Tacoma. Along the way, I stopped at many antique stores and second hand stores. I went to the tools section and looked. No success. Then I stopped at Grants Pass and asked. They said there was a man who lived about a mile from there who had a hole acre of Model T's. There were all kinds of parts and tools, but he didn't have one either. But he knew of someone in Brookings who had one. So I went there and bought it. The handle had been brazed back on, but the tool worked. Later in Tillamook I found a better one in a store and then had two! Later gave the one with the brazed handle to a friend who needed one.
Interestingly, I have seen them in swap meets. I bought one at a swap meet, but it didn't fit. It was made for smaller diameter rims, so be careful if you are looking to buy one, that it is for the right size.
Norm

[jiminbartow]

When rivets were originally installed at the factory, they were heated red hot so that when the end was bradded and rounded, the rivet shaft expanded in the hole causing a very tight fit. That is why they are so difficult to drive out. Most times they must be drilled out enough so that the remaining wall of the rivet will collapse enough to release the pressure so it can be drive out. Some people use heat, but care must be taken not to remove the temper of the steel. Jim Patrick

[jiminbartow]

Before reinstalling the head of the spreader, consider putting in a spacer between the gear and the head bracket to move and keep the meshed gears closer together so the teeth don’t pull away from eachother when pressure is applied. Jim Patrick

[ivaldes1]

Negative I need to get the rims back to round and unfreeze the locks from the galvanization. I am going to cut some half moon wood blocks and use a scissor jack for now as the rim spreader seems shot. I don't have a replacement at this time.

Did you finish mounting your tires before the rim spreader broke?

[Humblej]

You can borrow my rim spreader if you want.

[Chris Haynes]

I often see these rim spreaders for sale. But to be truthful I have no idea what they are used for. I can't imagine why a rim would need to be spread?

[RajoRacer]

The tool retracts the rim at the closure to assist in mounting the tire to the rim - after tire installation, re-setting the legs in a different configuration results in one "jacking" the rim closed again to secure the latch.

[Chris Haynes]

The tool retracts the rim at the closure to assist in mounting the tire to the rim - after tire installation, re-setting the legs in a different configuration results in one "jacking" the rim closed again to secure the latch.

I see. these are for split rims. My car has non-demount-able rims on it. I just use a pair of very long tire irons.