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My 28 526 frame front spring aft mount has 6 loose rivets. They are not broken but loose so that the fitting wiggles. Is there any way to tighten them up since I believe they were a hot rivet installation. If not does anyone know of a button head bolt that would work in that location so as to look stock from the outside? The fitting is not cut for a carriage bolt.

I don't "know", but what I would do, and I think would work is to heat the rivet cherry hot with a torch, put a heavy sledge on one side (you hold or a helper, depending on the geometry) and then peen the back side of the rivet with a hammer. If you hit the center first, it should compress the whole rivet and tighten everything up.

Just my two cents worth.

Another option would be air chisel off the old rivets and install new ones, one at a time would probably be the easiest.

Hi Horton:

That's a common problem with those cars. You'll need to knock the rivets out and drop the shackle mount to see how much the frame holes have been made oval. Packard had some weak engineering and those stress points were one of them. The loading characteristics of that setup was poor. However, the cars have outlived their expected service life.

An extremely skilled welder also can take care of your problem and lay down a seam that can be dressed so as to be undetectable. But you should obtain samples before taking that plunge.

Horton,

Some options , sources. It all depends if you want to keep the attachment method original.

bigflatsrivet.com/steel_rivets.php

hansonrivet.com/

Huck bolts, typically used in application to replace a formed rivet.

huckfastening.com/lock-bolts/


Dave

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Technical Service Bulletin from Ford, regarding the replacement of frame rivets with bolts.

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Sounds like we have both been battling some of the same demons. I responded to your post about spring shackle bushings last week. I recently removed a rear engine mount from my 1929 Seven Passenger Sedan...double rounded head rivets and I think it is a 3/16 inch rivet. Grainger has them cheap. I made a bucking bar with a dimpled end out of a piece of 4140 steel...Just like everybody says...get the correct size rivet so it fits the hole very close, get it cherry red (I used oxy-acetylene which worked great) and smack it real good once to expand it snug in the hole, then fight with it the rest of the afternoon to get it to look right. If you hit it too many times you will actually dimple the steel around the rivet, so definitely practice on some blanks first. If you do dimple the steel you can go back afterwards and fill the depression with weld. I'm not saying I had to do that though...bottom line is it looks like the original after I spent a day of making up new cuss words.

I wouldn't place to much concern on the phrase "welding is not acceptable" in the Ford thing. For one they are talking about frame rivets which require a clamping force. Secondly, the intention is to provide for uniformity of repairs. Welding quality varies from junk to artwork.

If you drive a low mileage car the ride quality is always better than a restored car. I've driven high mileage cars where you could feel the frame changing shape due to loose rivets. However, the Packard plant didn't use ball peen hammers and backyard methods to build those frames so I would not expect the quality to be replicated in the absence of manufacturing grade equipment. It's a tough situation and compromises have to be made.