figured I’d reach out and tap the knowledge here... I’m replacing the balljoints and having a hell of a time removing the old ones. I used my die grinder to remove part of the original rivet...these things still are not budging. Do these need to be pressed in/out? Help
I'd drill the rivet now. Then show us the bottom side of the A arm. Also tell us what car your working on.
Do you have an air hammer/chisel? I put the chisel bit on and drive between the two surfaces. Just did some on a 68 merc. Sent from my LG-LS993 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
I have had great success with the following method of rivet removal on just about anything. It's the remainder of the rivet that is holding the ball joint so once you grind the rivet head off center punch the shank so you can drill a hole part way, but not all the way through the shank. For example, on a 1/4" rivet you drill with a 1/8" or 3/16" bit and then use a drift punch that fits that hole to drive the rivet out, it is the hole in the center that relaxes the grip on the ball joint and the control arm.
Or drive it out with a round flat punch, don't use a pointed punch as it spreads the rivet in the hole when you hit it.
I've center punched and Drilled out 100's of them, easy and pretty Quick. But then again been Sharpening my own Drill Bits for years also. Sharp Bit's will make lite work of this. Grinding ******s up to much ****.
One more thing, kind of obvious: Make sure you have a solid 'platform', i.e. a heavy duty car stand, or even a 4X4 block cut to length, to stand on end under the ball joint arer of the control arm. When you pound down on the rivets, you will have solidity. Solidity! What a concept...
Got it I changed drill bits and drilled right through them! What a difference the correct drill bit can make...sheesh! Thanks for the input. Doing a front end rebuild on my 59 Ranchero. Figured while I’m doing the springs, shocks and disc brake conversion...may as well rebuild the front end.
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