New Truck Build Chevy P30 need some advice...

  Hey everyone, I'm new to this forum, although I've been reading and following it for a long time, this will be my first post. Well, I finally got my truck after looking for a long time, and we just started cleaning it out and removing the old shelves they had on the inside, but then we hit a snag. This truck has these cross bars that we didn't think were a big deal until we tried to take them down. My experience in truck automotive is very limited, and these bars look sorta like support beams so I just wanna make sure its ok for me to take these down before I go removing them. Also if it is ok to take them down, how in the world do I remove them when the nuts or whatever these are holing them in are round. Thanks for any assistance you can offer.


 

WOW. I'd take that somewhere...an industrial type shop? Good luck, wish I had direction to offer.

1 part place to hang things, 1 part support. Done a truck with bars similar, think it was a laundering truck, they used the bars for the obvious use of hanging crap tons of uniforms.
 
Buy a angle grinder at home depot, find some metal cut off discs, find some glasses, try not to die.

Those look like rivets,check the outside where they are and you should see a head if so they are.and then get a 4" grinder and a few cutoff wheels for it,safety glasses(you'll want your eyes later),and a face shield metal splinters hurt!

Thanks a bunch for everyone's advice, I am on my way to home depot right now lets hope they come off and i still have both eyes in tact lol ill keep everyone updated in case someone else comes across this issue.

Do NOT cut those off on the outside of your truck body. They are only thru the interior ribs. Cut/grind off the inside only. When you cut off the round head you'll hear the other end fall off inside the channel ...interior rib. They are not a support item for your truck so don't worry about that. But do be careful and don't let the grinder get away from you.

Thanks for catching it before I did BBQ. Like he said, they are just through the wall stud. Have another person hold the bar up when your cutting if you haven't worked with a angle grinder before. I just one hand angle grinder things, but I got the scars to prove I have been doing this a while.

Well it was a complete success! I got the grinder and those things came off and I was finished in a hour. Thanks for everyone's help, I will keep you updated on my progress and hopefully will be able to help someone the way you guys helped me.

With smaller rivets i use a drill to take them out, if you can't get a good handle on the grinder you may have a tough time with them.  work slowly!
 
Try a drill that has a good amount of torque, get some bits that will handle metal- a hair bigger than the rivet, and drill them out. Start slowly to get a starting pint where your bit is slipping then get at it.
 
you can start with a smaller bit to cut into it a bit and have a starting point.
 
All my rivet removal i have done with drills, i am not that skilled with the grinder and find it can get squirrely or i end up cutting something i didn't want to.  Especially in a tight space like what you are working in.
 
best of luck