riveted ball joints

[german]

would like to know your insight on this process
its difficult

Topic

[Alex Schmidbauer]

You have to cut the rivets off. Get a grinder and start cutting it, and with an air hammer and chisel they will pop right off. Replace with the new ball joint and use the bolts supplied with it. If they aren’t supplied with the part, make sure you get strong grade 8 bolts and nuts. There are many different ways to pop the ball joint, hammering the solid part where it goes through the knuckle, picklefork, prybar, etc. Good Luck

[german]

ive already hit them with an air chisle but man i have been fighting with these damn things im using an air hammer to try and push them through but they just seem to be stuck cant get them to come out

[Alex Schmidbauer]

Like I said, you will have to start cutting the heads of them, then chisel them off. This will weaken them to the point where the head will fly off.

[german]

will do thanks for the help

[college man]

before you do this.score an x in the top of the
rivet heads.

[EricTheCarGuy]

[quote=”college man” post=49274]before you do this.score an x in the top of the
rivet heads.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6f2_sx8wmwE%5B/quote%5D

This is exactly how I do them.

[John Clarke]

Depending on the vehicle, for just a few dollars more (literally) you can actually buy a new control arm, w/ bushings and w/balljoint. I would double check to make sure this is not the case for the vehicle you are working on. Save some money down the road and no rivets involved 🙂

[-=Col.Mantras=-]

[quote=”johncool54″ post=50157]Depending on the vehicle, for just a few dollars more (literally) you can actually buy a new control arm, w/ bushings and w/balljoint. I would double check to make sure this is not the case for the vehicle you are working on. Save some money down the road and no rivets involved :)[/quote]

I second this! Nowadays complete arms are around the same price as just a balljoint. Often much easier to swap an entire arm than to get into chiseling/grinding off rivets.

Cheers!

[drthrift035]

[quote=”johncool54″ post=50157]Depending on the vehicle, for just a few dollars more (literally) you can actually buy a new control arm, w/ bushings and w/balljoint. I would double check to make sure this is not the case for the vehicle you are working on. Save some money down the road and no rivets involved :)[/quote]

I was thinking along the same lines as you.

[german]

thanks guys i ended up getting it done but it really stressed me out haha i ended up getting the rivets out and had to use a ball joint press and air hammer wasnt cutting it but thanks for the info

[EricWaterTruck]

[quote=”johncool54″ post=50157]Depending on the vehicle, for just a few dollars more (literally) you can actually buy a new control arm, w/ bushings and w/balljoint. I would double check to make sure this is not the case for the vehicle you are working on. Save some money down the road and no rivets involved :)[/quote]

I was gonna suggest the same thing. Looking into doing this job next on my truck, seen many places where people go through the hassle and then find out their bushings are bad too a month later.

[EricTheCarGuy]

Glad you got it sorted out. Thanks for the update and for using the ETCG forum.

[college man]

Glad to hear it worked out.

[celticbhoy]

Another way to do it next time is to drill a pilot hole and then use a larger bit.

[Author]

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