ball joint removal

what is the best way to remove the original the ball joints while the control arms are still on the car and you cant get a drill to them?

 

What kind of car or truck ?

 

old chrysler had screw in style

most of your vehicles though

except for your foreign that are bolt in

if you get a gm that h*** rivets DO NOT heat the rivets, just use a hammer and chissel or air hammer with a chissel

 

Several Fords I've done were press-fit with an e-clip.

 

On alot of the ball joints you'll have to drill the holes to 5/15 to bolt the new joints in. You can grind the tops of the rivets then knock them out with a punch.

 

I ***ume you have the riveted style since you mentioned a drill. Either that or you really shouldnt be messing with suspension... Grinding the heads off is the best way, because its faster and theres no way you will ever find the absolute center to drill the rivet. Then either punch them through or wack the balljoint itself a few times. I have also used an air chisel to chisel the heads off. Blows through them in record time.

 

Also find out if the rivets are tapered so you're not trying to punch them out the wrong way.

 

these must be the new metric drills from china


he he he

 

thanks guys. its a 63 mercury, ive ground them off before but was wondering if an air chisel would be faster. should have just said that in the original post but i was in a hurry. so is an air chisel hands down faster than grinding them? i just wanted to get it straight before i spend the $ on an air hammer

 

An air chisel works nicely to get them out but isn't necessary unless you are looking for an excuse to buy one. Sometimes an air chisel in the wrong hands will tear up more than it fixes

The air chisel does make it a bit faster and would be desirable if you were doing it for a living though.
If you have a small grinder I'd just grind the heads off the rivets and then use a bfh and a good sized chisel to break the ball joint loose from the A frame. Then you can usually use a hammer and punch to knock the rivets out. Most of the time I used to hit them with the hammer to knock them down and a bit loose and then use the punch to knock them out. Normally you shouldn't have to drill the holes out to a larger size. the exception would be if the instructions told you to.
I did front end work in Waco about 35 years ago at the Firestone downtown store and Frank Weaver.

 

I thought his drill was able to turn things into stainless!