So I'm in the process of repainting my skidplate and I'd like to remove the two rails on either side to strip paint and make sure nothing is rusting under there. My question is can I just drill where these ground down rivet looking things are and get those rails to come off completely? They don't seem to be welded on or anything so seems to me that if I drill those rivets (or whatever they are) out then it should come off.

Here are some pics. I circled the rivet locations.

 

Welcome to YotaTech!

Those "rivet" locations are spot welds. You can drill them out (there's a special tool for that https://www.harborfreight.com/38-in-...ter-63657.html), but then what? You'll have a 3/8" (or so) hole where the spot weld used to be. You could plug weld it back together, but that sounds like a shoot-load of work just to check for rust.

PS: Nice job stripping the paint; I understand why you'd want to do "restoration grade" work. But still, under the truck?

 

Thanks been on this forum a bunch since I got the truck last year and finally had something to post about.

And yeah I should've know those were spot welds. Thanks for the feedback. When I thought they were rivets I figured I could just put new rivets in after. You think rivets would hold up under there?

I kinda have a tendency to go overboard with this stuff but I get what you're saying if it would have to be welded back together. Might let it go in that case.