You can also use a wiz-wheel or angle grinder to take the heads off. I've also used a pnuematic chisel.
Ball joint rivet removal
Le Mans Master
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From: I can walk to MA
Burning Brakes
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Melting Slicks
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From: pr, frederick md.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jul 2002
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From: Chicago Burbs IL
drill-em..
For uppers...drill em from the non-peened side (under a-arm) with a larger drill than the rivet shank diameter... The head will spin off once thru the head and then pop em out with a punch....NO damage to ball joint or A-arm.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jul 2005
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From: Austin Texas
Melting Slicks
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I used a dremel tool with a reinforced cutting wheel, cut off the heads (on top of the arm), and shaved any remaining edges off. Then I smacked the ball joint stud on the concrete a few times till the ball joint pushed itself out.
Safety Car
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,802
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From: Wichita KS
Last time I had to do this job was in 1974 and I did it with a 5lb sledge and cold chisel. Took 20 minutes per rivet because I was a 123 pound sailor just out of boot camp.
A pnuematic chisel would have been wonderful. But hey, my arms got quite a workout!
cc
A pnuematic chisel would have been wonderful. But hey, my arms got quite a workout!
cc
Last edited by CCrane65; Mar 26, 2007 at 11:25 PM. Reason: sp
Team Owner
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 40,325
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From: Redondo Beach, California
Good suggestion. My control arms are powder painted and I'd like to replace the ball joints without scratching the paint. Working on top of the ball joint should save the paint. (Using a power chisel on the bottom sounds like the fastest way, but it would scratch a lot of point. Oh...occassionally when I've scratched powderpainted surfaces, using POR15 to touch up the scratch has worked pretty good.)
