[irgoatmike]

Seems like my Dad and I always removed them by drilling them out. These days with compressor and air tools available is there anything wrong with taking a cutting wheel to them or does anyone have a really good method for removal? irgoatmike

[67drake]

I'm doing mine right now on my daily driver.
I don't see why you couldn't use a cut-off wheel. Just as long as the bolt holes don't get wrecked. I'm still old school,I drilled mine with a bit smaller then the rivet,then used an air chisel to finish them off.

[Paul E]

Grind off the rivit head on the ball joint flange side so you do not grind into the control arm, I then use a air chisel with a pointed attachment and the rivit pops out of the hole easily. Have done many times and goes very fast. I would not drill because I am lazy and could get off center. If no air chisel a quick tap with hammer and punch will work.

Paul

[78 GHOST]

4 1/2" grinding wheel on the ball joint side. I grind until it's a little concave, then whang it good with a phillips head, nail set, or punch to drive out the rivets.

Just did a set for a buddy who couldn't quite seem to get the hang of things. 15 minutes for both control arms, including BS'ing.

-Matt

[irgoatmike]

Thanks for the responses. Today I ground off the top of the rivets and popped the ball joints loose, having a hard time getting the top to pull through out of the spindle. I need to get my neighbor's pickle fork and that should do it. I gotta say that 28 years later I still don't like messing with suspension work, but it is challenging! irgoatmike

[78 GHOST]

OK, that is gonna be a major pain in the heinie.

Ordinarily, pulling the front end apart involves popping the ball joints loose prior to removing the spring.

Typically, I jack the car up, remove the shocks, loosen up the ball joint nuts a little then use the spring pressure to help separate the ball joints. Once that is done, you can compress and remove the spring, then everything else.

Grinding the rivets loose is about the last step in the process.

Unfortunately for you, it sounds like you're a little out of order. Persistance is gonna be your only friend at this point.

If you get stumped, put the spring back in, install the ball joint nuts until the top of the castle nuts is even with the end of the threaded portion of the ball joint, then whang the piss outta the spindle to break it loose.

Once the balljoints pop, recompress and remove the spring, then the spindle will simply fall off of the balljoints.

[irgoatmike]

Thanks 78 ghost, I actually got the driver side to pop loose finally and the neighbors pickle fork and a 5 lb hammer did the trick. The passenger side came out in about an hour and am I glad to be done messing with loaded coil springs for awhile. Frame is stripped and going to the blaster next week. Thanks everyone for the good feedback. irgoatmike

[b-man]

Rather than use a pickle fork, I use a 12" long 1" diameter brass bar as a drift. This saves your ball joint boots in case you're not replacing the ball joints, and you won't ding up the ends of your spindles like you usually do with the pickle fork.

The brass bar is long enough to hammer on out of the way of suspension components and soft enough that it won't distort the ends of the ball studs. Just be sure to leave the castle nuts on so the spring doesn't try to fly out, just loosen them up by a few turns.

Two good raps with a 2-pound hammer is all it takes to get the ball joint to let go of the spindle.

[guccieng]

i have this ball joint tool. worth every penny: http://www.scandc.com/tools.htm

[MrJoshua]

Dudes. I know this is a few days old already but for anyone just reading, I did the front end bushings, ball joints, shocks and springs in the Ventura today. Upper ball joints came out 1,2,3. 1/4" metal drill bit into the center of the rivit. Drill into the rivit on the under side of the A-arm. Try to get in into the center as best you can. Wack the center with a center punch to start you off so the bit doesn't drift on you. No need to drill to deep. Just as deep as the head on the rivit. When all four rivits are drilled out use a center punch and a hammer to punch out the rivits. A couple of good hard hits on each rivit should pop the ball joint out. When I did it the rivits themselves did not pop out, rather the head on the rivits popped off. Either way it worked no problem.

[guccieng]

i think he was referring to ball joint/spindle removal, not ball joint/upper a-arm.