I'm getting ready to put my oem LCA's back in w/ McGaughy's spindles. I need to remove the balljoints and I'm having some trouble. I drilled out the rivet heads on one side and tried to knock the rivets thru, but no luck. I used a bfh, then changed to an air chisel w/ a punch on it and no luck. Not even a little. Then I went to work and tried the hydraulic press to press them thru. Still, no luck, and I had to stop as the press was about to deform the LCA. Any ideas? I think I may need to drop them off at a frame shop for removal, but that's mo' money. I welcome your suggestions.

 

We heated mine with a torch, they slid out with a few taps after.

 

I'd considered that with the rivets closest to the balljoint, but did that work on the ones that are hidden by the top and bottom control arm stampings?

 

did you drill all the way through the rivot? did you cut the whole head off of the rivot to allow it to pass through the hole?
post a pic of what you have.

 

The rivet heads are gone.(good question) I took the arms to work and set them on a drill press. I used a center punch, then a good sharp center drill to start the hole but the odd shape of the arms wouldn't let them lay right and the holes ran off a bit. Anyway, I brought the arms home and used my air chisel to knock off the heads, and switched over to a punch on the chisel to knock them thru. That's when I made a trip back to work to use the press, and now here we are.

 

I just drilled them out all the way and punched the remaining part of the rivet through. Worked for me...

 

I might be doing the very same thing in the next day or so.

 

try a propane torch around the rivots for a little bit...let 'em warm up pretty good then beat the shii outta them. worked good for me on my 01.

 

oh another thing...try drilling out the full diameter of the rivot with a hand drill taking your time. C clamp the control arm down on a work bench. also if you are good enough drill it out the whole diameter of the rivot and be done with it.

post a pic of the rivots when you can please

 

I'll see what I can do on the pics. It may be a coupla days before I can get back on this. Working all weekend.