Well, I am an hour and a half into installing my MBRP light bar. So far I have managed to remove about a dozen push rivets. I have three that refuse to be removed. They are the ones that have the plastic screw through the interior of the anchor. The problem is that the plastic screw is not coming out when its turned. I will need to reuse all the rivets i remove, so i can't destroy them while removing them. Anyon have a hint on how to remove these without damaging them beyond repair?

 

Take a small knife or something and pry the screw out as you are unscrewing it. Another option is to screw a wood screw into it and pull it out. You can still reuse them after either of these, or go to Pep Boys and buy a few new ones. They are cheap....

 

same as above, I just use a tiny flat screwdriver to pry the screw up as I turn it.. works every time! Although really, you don't even need to turn it.. If you can just pry it up enough that you can get ahold of it, you can just pull it straight up and out.. The plastic threads slide easily over each other, and nothing is hurt by doing it this way either...

 

The "screws" that fit down into the anchors are not screws at all. The philips head impression on top is for looks/styling only. Therefore, you can turn them till you turn blue, they won't budge. Once you get the hang of pulling them out, you will kick yourself for how simple it is. Using two small flat bladed screwdrivers, knives, whatever, place the blade between what appears to be the screw and what appears to be the washer (is actually the anchor). Gently pull up on both sides and the "screw" will pull right out with no damage. I had my grill off just yesterday, and all of the anchors have been removed and reused multiple times. The two mistakes made most often are trying to turn and lift, and trying to pry between the anchor and the part it is holding in place.

 

X2 I used the wood screw method. It worked well and I was able to reuse the push rivets.

 

these can be a PITA, but all the above should work fine

 

Thanks for the tips. I ended up using two razor blades to pry the screws out of the anchors and now my light bar is installed. I think I'll wait until Houston is under 95 degrees before doing anymore mods in my driveway....

 

pics?