upper ball joints
 

ok im fighting my upper ball joints whats the easiest way to get the factory upper balljoints out i've grinded the heads off the top and have been try to beat the rest of it out but its not moving lol... any tricks to do this? 1st time messing with chevy ball joints im used to just pressing them in and out like the lowers

Re: upper ball joints
 

what i did was grind the heads off till you see the hole where the rivit went into the factory ball joints. Then i drilled them out using cobalt drill bit and got a punch and punched them out. It was a pain but got it done good luck man.

Re: upper ball joints
 

I just took my control arms off and took them to the shop! Of course I was having the bushings done at the some time.

Re: upper ball joints
 

I just did mine last weekend and did what 54Caddy said. It took a little bit, but it worked. On the passenger side I used an air chisel with a compressor. It was a LOT faster, but I had to go out and buy the right tools.

Good luck!

Re: upper ball joints
 

I have found that using a dremel to slice slices through the top of the rivet then using a good chisel to chop off the slices.. i try and make em like a 16 or 8th of an inch and it goes quick

Re: upper ball joints
 

On both of mine, I pulled the UCA, put it in a vice, and ground the heads off the rivets. Then a friend of mine and I took turns beating the rivets out with a hammer and punch. It was a LOT of work. :(

Slonaker

Re: upper ball joints
 

It's as simple as that!! ^:smoke:

Re: upper ball joints
 

I took the UCA off the truck, grinded the head of the rivet until I could see the hole in the UBJ and popped the little ba$terds out with a press. Went really smooth once I got in a groove.

Re: upper ball joints
 

i used a seperator tool from harbor freight, it worked pretty damn good;. i think it was like 15$

Re: upper ball joints
 

After grinding the heads off, I use an air chisel with a punch tool in it. MORE POWER!!!

Re: upper ball joints
 

http://soccertackle.com/image/image/...mmer-large.jpg

Use goggles!!

Re: upper ball joints
 

X2 Just did it today, I used a 3" air cut off saw, cut x's in the top side, cut off the top with the air chisel then drove out the remainder of the rivet with the punch tool for the air chisel. I would recommend hearing protection if you use thus method, echoes pretty loud in the fender well!

Re: upper ball joints
 

thanks guys i did mine today also grinded the heads off and used a drill to drill most of it out then i used a BFH to beat the rest of the rivet out . now to actually install my 5/7 drop kit...realized i have more grinding and beating out back to install my c notch lol

Re: upper ball joints
 

This is what I did too. It worked great for me. Can't beat power tools!:sumo:

Re: upper ball joints
 

i got lucky (except for the fact that my passenger upper ball joint broke while i was driving) and the ball joints were already aftermarket so all i had to do was un bolt them

Re: upper ball joints
 

im getting ready to do upper and lowers on my beast this weekend but mine are factory, oh how i wish the uppers were after market. I dont have an air compressor strong enough to run my air tools.

Re: upper ball joints
 

We done a front end rebuild on dad's 84 back in nov. only air tool we used was the impact for the balljoint press we rented.

As for the tops I ground em til I saw the round spots, then just took a hammer and screwdriver between the balljoint and control arm to seperate them. I heard that after grinding the heads off a air chisel with a punch bit works great and very fast. I tried it by hand but without holding the upper down it just bounced, maybe ratchet strap it down and hit it. Or just take it off, it's only 2 nuts and then the brake line holder's bolt.

Re: upper ball joints
 

Thanks Benoit