Don't Try This At Home (was: Lower Control Arm Ball Joints)
Posted: Fri Nov 27, 2009 4:50 pm
I bought replacement ball joint assemblies (Moog). Today I started the replacement process. I said, "started", because this turned out to be the project from hell. Everything went okay until I tried to remove the rivets that hold the original ball joint assemblies to the control arm. After completely removing the lower rivet heads, I tried punching out the rivets. I couldn't get them to budge - even with a pneumatic hammer. After hours of frustration, I finally removed the control arms. Now I am faced with a choice:
1) Should I replace the control arm assemblies? If so, should I go OEM, or is there a better replacement?
2) Should I use a hydraulic press to push out the rivets and then replace the ball joints assemblies while retaining the original control arms (this might make it easier to replace the ball joints the next time)?
Whichever I choose, it sounds like I need to replace the "torque to yield" bolts.
If I keep the original control arms, do you think I should replace the bushings, etc?
Knowing what I know now, I would never have tackled this project. I would have replaced the entire control arms or paid someone to do this.
1) Should I replace the control arm assemblies? If so, should I go OEM, or is there a better replacement?
2) Should I use a hydraulic press to push out the rivets and then replace the ball joints assemblies while retaining the original control arms (this might make it easier to replace the ball joints the next time)?
Whichever I choose, it sounds like I need to replace the "torque to yield" bolts.
If I keep the original control arms, do you think I should replace the bushings, etc?
Knowing what I know now, I would never have tackled this project. I would have replaced the entire control arms or paid someone to do this.
