Ball joint rivet removal

[Squankum]

Howdy gang. I'm gearing up for a potentially unpleasant job on a first-gen Durango. The upper ball joints are riveted in. I have a cutoff wheel, good drill bits, a 4 1/2" angle grinder, and an air hammer with chisels.

If I do start going down the grinding route, is this a good disc?

Black & Decker/DWLT DW8404 Metal Depressed-Center Grinding Wheel
by Black & Decker
Link: http://amzn.com/B003RVP5EU

Because I already have that one, and a flapper wheel which I suspect is not for this kind of job.

I think I'll be following the legendary Mr. Holeshot's advice from this thread,
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=73278

which is, cut off wheel, make an X, then air chisel.

But I like to be prepared, there are six of these rivets my near future.

Thanks to all for all the good advice!

 

[royesses]

I'm an old timer so take it as just how I used to do it. I have replaced hundreds of riveted ball joints and used to drill them then pop the head off with a hammer and chisel. Never took long to do. Never had a problem.

 

[Tech89]

That's how I remove most of the riveted ones. Nine times out of ten cutting a "X" in the upper side of the rivet and then using your air hammer to pop the upper side of the rivet off. Then I usually take a good sharp punch bit in my air hammer to start driving the rivet out. Switching rivets as I go. Sometimes you have to find a way to get between the a arm and balljoint and kind of pry as you air hammer. If they are kind of stubborn I heat around the rivets with a torch a little bit. For the very stubborn ones I drill them, but I try to avoind that as much as possible. Be careful not to distort the arm to much.

Other members will probably have some good advice as well.

-Pat

 

[Askme42]

Howdy gang. I'm gearing up for a potentially unpleasant job on a first-gen Durango. The upper ball joints are riveted in. I have a cutoff wheel, good drill bits, a 4 1/2" angle grinder, and an air hammer with chisels.

If I do start going down the grinding route, is this a good disc?

Black & Decker/DWLT DW8404 Metal Depressed-Center Grinding Wheel
by Black & Decker
Link: http://amzn.com/B003RVP5EU

Because I already have that one, and a flapper wheel which I suspect is not for this kind of job.

I think I'll be following the legendary Mr. Holeshot's advice from this thread,
http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=73278

which is, cut off wheel, make an X, then air chisel.

But I like to be prepared, there are six of these rivets my near future.

Thanks to all for all the good advice!

That's exactly how I removed my ball joint rivets on my 1991 gmc.

Just be patient is about the only advice I have.

 

[Moose-LandTran]

I've use a few methods:

Good quality cutting disc, cut the head off one side, and knock the rest through with a pointed bit in an air hammer, or punch and hammer.

Drill a hole in the centre, moving up in sizes until you can chisel one head off.

Or my easiest method, MAPP gas blow torch, head the rivet until it glows nice and hot and cut one head off with a sharp chisel in an air hammer, then use a pointed bit to knock the rest though. Minimal effort.

 

[efb16acrx]

I just knock them off with my air hammer, takes 3 seconds or so, but you have to have a good air hammer to do it. Plus its fun to shoot the rivets across the shop.

 

[rsanter]

My preferred method is the use of a carbide ball on a die grinder.
Remove most of the head and then use a chisel and punch to knock it out.

Next method is to drill the rivit out about 80% the size of the rivit so you don't damage the hole.
Knock head off with a chisel and knock out with a punch

Bob

 

[signcrafter]

Is your amazon link to an 88.67 four and a half inch grinder wheel? That seems awful high to me. I usually just grind, cut, carbide burr, air hammer, chisel away. Depends on what kind of mood I'm in and what tools I grab first.

 

[Cope]

My first ball joint R&R was a 1955 Chevy in high school. Cut the rivets with a cold chisel, drilled the holes to 5/16" and bolted the new ones in. It was the Friday before senior prom, and if you weren't at school or didn't have an approved absence, you didn't goi to the prom. When they called, my dad told them I was sick, which wasn't far from the truth, I was sick of ball joints.

 

[Scimmia]

Is your amazon link to an 88.67 four and a half inch grinder wheel? That seems awful high to me. I usually just grind, cut, carbide burr, air hammer, chisel away. Depends on what kind of mood I'm in and what tools I grab first.

That's got to be a 25 pack.

 

[RM209]

I'm an old timer so take it as just how I used to do it. I have replaced hundreds of riveted ball joints and used to drill them then pop the head off with a hammer and chisel. Never took long to do. Never had a problem.

I've only done a few, but that's how I did them. I was surpised at how relatively soft the rivets were; very easy to drill.

RM209

 

[GTA Matt]

I just knock them off with my air hammer, takes 3 seconds or so, but you have to have a good air hammer to do it. Plus its fun to shoot the rivets across the shop.

This, literally takes 3 seconds per rivet on those things with a sharp chisel and good air hammer. Knock the heads off with the chisel bit, swap over to the pointed bit and knock them through.

 

[theoldwizard1]

I'm an old timer so take it as just how I used to do it. I have replaced hundreds of riveted ball joints and used to drill them then pop the head off with a hammer and chisel. Never took long to do. Never had a problem.

I haven't done any in awhile, but that pretty much what I did. I could not get the drill positioned correctly so it was all hammer and chisel.

• Wear ear and eye protection
• Shave a thin amount of the head of the rivet with each pass. Once flush, use a punch. If will go faster than you think.

 

[volleyball]

I did dozens as a teen with a dull cold chisel. Got an air chisel and never looked back. A few seconds and it is done. No drilling, no X. Wear ear protection if you have your head in the wheel well.

 

[Squankum]

Is your amazon link to an 88.67 four and a half inch grinder wheel? That seems awful high to me. I usually just grind, cut, carbide burr, air hammer, chisel away. Depends on what kind of mood I'm in and what tools I grab first.

Yeah, that's got to be a package.

For all of the revolutionary expansion that amazon has made into all sorts of products, it's shocking what critical facts are nowhere to be found in some product descriptions!

Not as shocking as Wal-Mart not having price tags anywhere near so many items anymore, but hey, shut up and buy.

Thanks for all the great advice, folks! I now have a carbide burr set for my grinder, too. I guess I'll find out soon enough if my chisel bits and I-R (but low price) air hammer are "good."

 

[blackwire]

I'm an old timer so take it as just how I used to do it. I have replaced hundreds of riveted ball joints and used to drill them then pop the head off with a hammer and chisel. Never took long to do. Never had a problem.

I've done it the same way.

 

[Squankum]

Howdy, gang. Thanks for all the advice! The project is before me, and I did some version of Chrysler's o-fficial advice for these rivets: drill some, drill bigger, cut an X with a grinder wheel, then air chisel. Those heads came off easily!

I tried just chiseling first on one of them but it was very slow going, as my air chisel isn't the meanest, it's what some around here refer to as a buzzy thing.

 

[Bull]

I just knock them off with my air hammer, takes 3 seconds or so, but you have to have a good air hammer to do it. Plus its fun to shoot the rivets across the shop.

This was my experience when I removed the uppers on my '76 TA project a month or so ago. Air hammer made the job lightning fast, but one rivet head went flying and I think dinged my GTO!

 

[wild cowboy]

Not as shocking as Wal-Mart not having price tags anywhere near so many items anymore, but hey, shut up and buy.

The even more shocking thing is that some moronic car companies ever riveted them in in the first place.

Good grief.

 

[volleyball]

Did you see the car repair show where they revived a 77 TA? It was on sat morning. The show where they come to your house to fix your ride.

 

[Bull]

Did you see the car repair show where they revived a 77 TA? It was on sat morning. The show where they come to your house to fix your ride.

No, but I would like to see that very much! Where is it?

 

[volleyball]

It was on TW early Sat. morning. Saw the listing while flipping channels. Did not watch. Hopefully someone here caught it and knows more

 

[Shadowdog500]

I haven't done one in a while, but I centerpunch, then drill, then chisel the head off, then drive the rivet out with a drift pin. Don't drill through the bottom head so the drift has something to push against when you hammer the rivet out.

What air hammer do you have? The HF one is little more than a hand massager.

Chris

 

[redmondjp]

I haven't done any in awhile, but that pretty much what I did. I could not get the drill positioned correctly so it was all hammer and chisel.

• Wear ear and eye protection
• Shave a thin amount of the head of the rivet with each pass. Once flush, use a punch. If will go faster than you think.

+1 Myself, I have never had any luck trying to use an air chisel to get the entire head of the rivet to come off in one piece. Finally somebody clued me in to just take slices off of it and that made it much faster. Then switch to the punch tip on the air hammer and pop it through.

 

[Moose-LandTran]

This was my experience when I removed the uppers on my '76 TA project a month or so ago. Air hammer made the job lightning fast, but one rivet head went flying and I think dinged my GTO!

You dinged my GTO?!?!

 

[Squankum]

What air hammer do you have? The HF one is little more than a hand massager.

Chris

I'm new to air tools. This is what I used. It's my first air hammer, which is oodles more fun than no air hammer at all!

Ingersoll Rand Air Hammer 114GQC
http://amzn.com/B000VZAENC

But from what I've read, I could also use a stronger one with a long stroke. But this one, it sure was affordable.

I shot two rivet heads into the engine compartment through the wheel well. (Upper ball joints.) I eventually stuffed some wadded-up butcher paper into the hole between wheel well and engine bay to catch them.

 

[SteadyC]

I've always used a corded grinder. Grind until flush. Bottle/hand spray with h20. Drive out with punch and hammer. You can use a block of wood to support the upper "A" arm between the upper and lower control arms. If doing the lower use a jack stand.

 

[Squankum]

Support the upper A-arm... yeah... that's a ... good idea...


Dangit... maybe next time...

 

[u118224]

I have to replace a lower ball joint on a 2001 Buick Century and the manual indicates removal of the A arm and drill the rivets out. I don't want to remove the A arm but there's not a lot of room to remove the rivets. Do you remove the ball joint stud from the knuckle before removing the rivets? It seems like there'd be more room that way without having to remove the A arm. So, from reading this thread I assume no one is removing the A arm.

 

[Shadowdog500]

I have to replace a lower ball joint on a 2001 Buick Century and the manual indicates removal of the A arm and drill the rivets out. I don't want to remove the A arm but there's not a lot of room to remove the rivets. Do you remove the ball joint stud from the knuckle before removing the rivets? It seems like there'd be more room that way without having to remove the A arm. So, from reading this thread I assume no one is removing the A arm.

I don't remove the A-arm just to do balljoints. But I do remove the knuckle from the ball joint stud before removing the rivets. It gives you a lot more room, and you are going to have to do it anyway if you are replacing the balljoint.

Some of these new cars give you no room to do anything, so following the procedure in the factory repair manual is sometimes faster even if it takes more steps. Don't know if it is the case with your balljoints, but I know when I replaced the radiator in my Jeep Grand Cherokee. The factory manual said to practicall take the whole front of the car off. I call bulshit on thier procedure and figured I could get any radiator out easily. after wrestled with my radiator for an hour or two and not getting it out, i conceded that the factory procedure was easier and faster, and had the front of my car removed and the radiator out about 30 minutes later. Even though there are more steps, the factory reccomended procedure is sometimes faster.


Chris

 

[u118224]

I don't remove the A-arm just to do balljoints. But I do remove the knuckle from the ball joint stud before removing the rivets. It gives you a lot more room, and you are going to have to do it anyway if you are replacing the balljoint.

Some of these new cars give you no room to do anything, so following the procedure in the factory repair manual is sometimes faster even if it takes more steps. Don't know if it is the case with your balljoints, but I know when I replaced the radiator in my Jeep Grand Cherokee. The factory manual said to practicall take the whole front of the car off. I call bulshit on thier procedure and figured I could get any radiator out easily. after wrestled with my radiator for an hour or two and not getting it out, i conceded that the factory procedure was easier and faster, and had the front of my car removed and the radiator out about 30 minutes later. Even though there are more steps, the factory reccomended procedure is sometimes faster.


Chris

Thanks, I'm going to try it without removing the A arm.

 

[theknurl]

not use an air chisel........what are you retarded?

drill them are you kidding????

 

[Squankum]

I have to replace a lower ball joint on a 2001 Buick Century and the manual indicates removal of the A arm and drill the rivets out. I don't want to remove the A arm but there's not a lot of room to remove the rivets. Do you remove the ball joint stud from the knuckle before removing the rivets? It seems like there'd be more room that way without having to remove the A arm. So, from reading this thread I assume no one is removing the A arm.

Yes. In my case, since I was doing both ball joints and all of the tie rod bits, I was removing the knuckle completely. Since you're doing lower ball joint to get at rivets, you might want to do that. (My job was made easier because I'd been through the brakes before, knew the ins and outs, nothing was hard to take apart, etc.)

This is a strut suspension? You could just pop the ball joint out of the bottom of the knuckle and push the strut/knuckle/brake rotor out of the way, the question is how much room that leaves you for your implements of destruction and how patient you are. I'm usually really patient (or worse) and would rather have a good view of things, if I can.

 

[u118224]

not use an air chisel........what are you retarded?

drill them are you kidding????

No, I plan on using an air chisel. I'll notch them with an air cutoff disc first. I just wanted to see what others here do.

Yes, this is a strut suspension, just one ball joint (lower). Thanks for the replies. I like to have a rough idea how I'm going to proceed before starting.

 

[buffalobill]

I'm new to air tools. This is what I used. It's my first air hammer, which is oodles more fun than no air hammer at all!

Ingersoll Rand Air Hammer 114GQC
http://amzn.com/B000VZAENC

But from what I've read, I could also use a stronger one with a long stroke. But this one, it sure was affordable.

I shot two rivet heads into the engine compartment through the wheel well. (Upper ball joints.) I eventually stuffed some wadded-up butcher paper into the hole between wheel well and engine bay to catch them.

I have this air hammer, its worked fairly well, but it makes me want better one. probably wait for a used snap on or mac...