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  View original topic: Separating Top Hats From Outriggers...What's Your Method?
kenshapiro2002 Wed Jul 09, 2014 8:14 am

I'm doing this job this week and I'm splicing into outriggers a d the top hats above them. I plan on dissecting them at different points, mostly because of where the rust stops and also because it seems to be a stronger resurrection if they overlap rather than be cut at the same point. What method have ya'll used to separate them at their horizontal joint? Drill? Grind?

kenshapiro2002 Wed Jul 09, 2014 4:35 pm

Well...I'll give the first answer. While waiting for some experienced expertise, I went ahead and tackled one. Used the same method I've used on the front floor, cargo floor etc...get some separation and then use the vice grips to grab, roll, grab, roll. Did one of the outriggers so far and it worked beautifully. I will NEVER drill out spot welds as long as the "Vice Grip Grab and Roll" works!

Schwing Wed Jul 09, 2014 4:38 pm

kenshapiro2002 wrote: Well...I'll give the first answer. While waiting for some experienced expertise, I went ahead and tackled one. Used the same method I've used on the front floor, cargo floor etc...get some separation and then use the vice grips to grab, roll, grab, roll. Did one of the outriggers so far and it worked beautifully. I will NEVER drill out spot welds as long as the "Vice Grip Grab and Roll" works!

I was waiting for the experts to chime in too. I carefully used my wood chisel that I would sharpen with the angle grinder every 5min or so. There's probably a few ways to do this. I tried an air chisel and that didn't seem to be very effective. I agree with the grab roll too. Another idea is to use a hammer once it starts to break free. Its just a ballbusting job.

kenshapiro2002 Wed Jul 09, 2014 4:43 pm

Guess we're now the new experts! :roll:

durfeec Wed Jul 09, 2014 6:05 pm

I prefer the vise grip method after grinding away at the spot weld to make it thinner. I would suggest replacing the whole outrigger and sectioning the tophat where needed. Outriggers aren't that expensive or hard to do. Especially if its the rear.

kenshapiro2002 Wed Jul 09, 2014 6:08 pm

durfeec wrote: I prefer the vise grip method after grinding away at the spot weld to make it thinner. I would suggest replacing the whole outrigger and sectioning the tophat where needed. Outriggers aren't that expensive or hard to do. Especially if its the rear.

Thanks... That's exactly what I decided to do this afternoon. I totally removed the rear outrigger and left about 4" of tophat above it. Pretty sure I'll do the same up front from the way it looks. Pictures will be up soon.

kenshapiro2002 Thu Jul 10, 2014 8:01 pm

So today I cut a replacement for my right rear tophat. After cutting the first one too small (I'll use it elsewhere), I spent three freakin' hours getting the part to fit perfectly:


kenshapiro2002 Thu Jul 10, 2014 8:02 pm

Here's the right rear outrigger:

kenshapiro2002 Thu Jul 10, 2014 8:03 pm

And the front outrigger yet to be cut into:


brettsvw Fri Jul 11, 2014 3:33 pm

I also grind some of the metal at spot welds and then use side-cutters to grab and roll it like opening a can of sardines back in the 1980s.

WithTheFlow Thu Jul 13, 2017 9:36 am

Since the top hat support has to be fixed anyway I just hammered a chisel through the spot welds after drilling them out. On the rear drivers side I have a metal pipe running through that extends to my dashboard. there no way to drill out the spot welds with it there.

Skim Thu Jul 13, 2017 4:22 pm

I use the grinder on the spot welds the roll off the remnants with the vise grips

Enkiel Thu Jul 13, 2017 4:51 pm

Skim wrote: I use the grinder on the spot welds the roll off the remnants with the vise grips did that too. Grinder to thin the metal really helped rolling it out.

Before doing this, i did try the spot weld drill, which pissed me off more than anything,



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