85 GMC Sierra "Scarlett"

[N2TRUX]

Up to this point all that required is a good assortment of hand tools. I didnt even bother to break out the air tools. My DeWalt 20v did the job on everything it could reach. Thats all about to change for the next step.

The upper A arm mounting bracket must be removed to make room for the new HQ Series coilover bracket. There are four bolts that hold it to the frame. All but one came out with minimal difficulty. The bottom one on the passenger side was very difficult to access, so plan on testing your patience on this one. Be sure to lube the exposed threads to help ease the process.

With the bolts out of the way a whole new game begins. The stock brackets are secured to the crossmember with rivets. There are several ways to remove these rivets, none are what can be called easy.
A common way is to use a cut off wheel and cut an X in the head, then use a air chisel to cut the head off. If you use the process you will need a very good quality air chisel. Mine did not make the grade, and Harbor Freights best wont do it either.

In the end, I resorted to a more tedious method of grind the head off, top and bottom. I followed this up with drilling the rivet out. It was slow, but less stressful than a weak air chisel that would have taken much longer.