One of my winter projects involves replacing the lower ball joints on my 1995 coupe. At 134K miles the nibs are definately retracted into the ball joint which I understand indicates they need replaced. Reading the factory manual it looks to me like the most important thing safety wise is to properly support the the lower A arm and carefully unload the spring tension. I would like to leave the A arm on the car and use a ball joint press. I have never used a ball joint press, are they one of those "looks good" tools which just don't function in the real world?

 

I ended up taking the lower a-arm off as I was replacing the front spring on my 94 at the same time with a VBP spring. I have a 10 ton hydraulic press that I used to remove and install the new lower ball joints. Getting the old ones out wasn't hard, putting the new ones in almost broke my press. The hard part is getting the ball joint lined up perfect with the hole. I noticed some thin alumunium shavings around the new joint after it was pressed in and thought maybe it wasn't lined up right. I also bought new lower a-arms from mid america (for future use) which had same shavings there so I guess its ok. I also used moog joints which are supposed to be easier to install and put them in the freezer. Seems some people have no problem pressing them in and others do. I rented the tool you're talking about from auto zone and theres no way I could have pressed them in with it. If I were to do it again I'd drop the a-arms off to a shop and have them take out and press in the new joints.

 

the lower control arm are magnesium ,not aluminum the best way to remove the ball joints is to remove the control arms from the car and press them out,make sure everything is strait .you can even use a little propane torch to heat it up a bit around the ball joint that seems to help them slide out with problem .or you can just rent a c press for ball joints but i tried it and it was going sideways so i just stopped took off the control arms and used my press

 

I never heard of them being magnesium. If that is the case, dont use a torch! Mag is very flamable and can explode.

 

Holy Santa Claus. I guess we keep learning as we get older. I had no idea they were mag.

Dan6712 is correct. Take them out, press them out and as long you get those ball joints in straight (new ones), you'll have "zero" problemas. I've done that job twice and the top ball joints were the ones that made go back to the confession stand......

 

i thought it was only unsafe to weld mag because it can start on fire?i guess I'm lucky you learn something new everyday metal that can explode who would of thought. but they are magnesium

 

i just checked it out and mag duz not explode,you can weld it with a tig,or oxy torch its says that magnesium powder is added to certain explosives maybe thats why people think it explodes ,i could be wrong im only going by what i read ,but if infact it can explode then dam i was one lucky guy cuz i changed about 10 lower ball joints in vettes and allways used a torch

 

http://www.burningart.com/meico/pyro/mag.html I made that statement based on the fact that a mag fire burnt down half of the place I work. Once it started , water would not put it out.

 

Magnesium is the third most commonly used structural metal, following steel and aluminium.


Products made of magnesium: firestarter and shavings, sharpener, magnesium bandMagnesium compounds, primarily magnesium oxide, are used mainly as refractory material in furnace linings for producing iron, steel, nonferrous metals, glass and cement. Magnesium oxide and other compounds also are used in agricultural, chemical and construction industries. As a metal, this element's principal use is as an alloying additive to aluminium with these aluminium-magnesium alloys being used mainly for beverage cans.

Magnesium, in its purest form, can be compared to aluminium, and is strong and light, so it is used in several high volume part manufacturing applications, including automotive and truck components. Specialty, high-grade car wheels of magnesium alloy are called "mag wheels". In 1957 a Corvette SS, designed for racing, was constructed with magnesium body panels. Volkswagen has used magnesium in its engine components for many years. For a long time, Porsche used magnesium alloy for its engine blocks due to the weight advantage. There is renewed interest in magnesium engine blocks, as featured in the 2006 BMW 325i and 330i models. The BMW engine uses an aluminium alloy insert for the cylinder walls and cooling jackets surrounded by a high temperature magnesium alloy AJ62A. The application of magnesium AE44 alloy in the 2006 Corvette Z06 engine cradle has advanced the technology of designing robust automotive parts in magnesium. Both of these alloys are recent developments in high temperature low creep magnesium alloys. The general strategy for such alloys is to form intermetallic precipitates at the grain boundaries, for example by adding mischmetal or calcium[1]. New alloy development and lower costs, which are becoming competitive to aluminium, will further the number of automotive applications.

In December 2005, for the first time on record, the automotive grade magnesium alloy price per cm³ dropped below the A380 aluminum alloy price per cm³. [citation needed]

The second application field of magnesium is electronic devices. Due to low weight, good mechanical and electrical properties, magnesium is widely used for manufacturing of mobile phones, laptop computers, cameras, and other electronic components.

Historically, magnesium was one of the main aerospace construction metals and was used for German military aircraft as early as World War I and extensively for German aircraft in World War II. The Germans coined the name 'Elektron' for magnesium alloy which is still used today. Due to perceived hazards with magnesium parts in the event of fire, the application of magnesium in the commercial aerospace industry was generally restricted to engine related components. Currently the use of magnesium alloys in aerospace is increasing, mostly driven by the increasing importance of fuel economy and the need to reduce weight. The development and testing of new magnesium alloys notably Elektron 21 which has successfully undergone extensive aerospace testing for suitability in both engine, internal and airframe components. European Community runs three R&D magnesium projects in Aerospace priority of Six Framework Program.

Other uses include:

Removal of sulfur from iron and steel.
Photoengraved plates in the printing industry.
Combined in alloys, this metal is essential for airplane and missile construction.
When used as an alloying agent, this metal improves the mechanical, fabrication and welding characteristics of aluminium.
Additive agent for conventional propellants and used in producing nodular graphite in cast iron.
Reducing agent for the production of pure uranium and other metals from their salts.
Magnesium turnings or ribbon are used to prepare Grignard reagents, which are useful in organic synthesis
Easily reacting with water, it can serve as a desiccant
Magnesium is also flammable, burning at a temperature of approximately 2500 K (2200 °C, 4000 °F).
The autoignition temperature of magnesium is approximately 744 K (473 °C, 883 °F).
The extremely high temperature at which magnesium burns makes it a handy tool for starting emergency fires during outdoor recreation.
Other uses include flashlight photography, flares, pyrotechnics, sparklers, and incendiary bombs.

 

If they are, then every book ever written on the C4, including some of the factory service manuals for various years, are wrong.

FWIW, the ZF6 bell-housing is magnesium and the C5 used more magnesium.

 

they are ,so is the rearend batwing corvettes use aluminum and magnesium threwout the car

 

omg i guess I'm one lucky guy could of started a huge bond fire ,i guess i wont be using the torch and more,thanks for clearing that up

 

Put down the crack pipe and step away from the bar. The differential and the batwing are cast aluminum.

The valve covers are the early cars are magnesium.

I'll be sure to let my GM friends know they incorrectly identified the materials they used in their design.

 

i dont think you know wat your talking about ,the batwing is magnesium ,when i took mine in to get polished and they could not because its magnesium,and the lower front control arms are mag to .but then i guess you read alot of magazines and just so you know mag has almost the same strength as steel thats why its used in the high stress parts like the batwing and front lower control arms .so go read your hot rod mags and trust me leave this subject to people who know wat their talking about .and your so funny crack pipe hahaha

 

It's cast aluminum not mag. I have both polished and had things welded to the batwing. It is cast aluminum for sure.

 

I know exactly what I'm talking about. You need to admit you're wrong and quit providing incorrect information. From my GS....

Aluminum...


Aluminum...


Aluminum...


Aluminum (steering knuckle)...


I have pics of the batwing at home. As I recall, someone here on the Forum has polished the batwing on theirs.

 

o.k if it makes you feel better ,your wrong the batwing that you think was polished was i think ceramic coated,and as a matter of fact i have a d36 bat wing in the garage and i just went out and scraped a sliver and put a flame to it and it lite up with a intense white flame .so its mag 4 sure i never knew mag was flamable .but then you read all the magazines that looked at the car and thought it was aluminum so what ever you think it is your wrong ,but im not going to argue with you .your not in the same knowledge bracket.so if it makes you feel better im wrong ,you where the chief designer of the corvette .and i forgot you read it in a magazine

 

you can weld magnesium,so whats your point? let me see your polished rear bat wing if you polished it ,you can tig and torch weld magnesium so i don't know what you meant by that .its obvious you guys don't know what your talking about a corvette guy here in edmonton that has probably worked on and raced more vettes then most of us here has also told me it is magnesium,and its hard to tell aluminum from mag they look the same. so i can see why you guys think it aluminum,but its not .but then again you probably read it in a hot rod magazine

 

Gave up on the lower control arm? Why? Oh yeah...'cause you're wrong.

Since you know it all, you should contact Corvette Engineering and let them know they've lied to everyone for the last 22+ years.

After that, please extract your head from the dark place it currently resides.

Lastly you are right about one thing...I won't lower myself to your knowledge bracket.

 

I'm looking at a GM drawing of the batwing right now and it states it's "Permanent Mold Cast Aluminum"