Darksyde Posted November 25, 2005 Report Posted November 25, 2005 Well in about 15 min. i'm gonna head out into the 20° cold and do my ball joints and brakes. So no more squeking.....no more turning the wheel and having it stay there......no more pulling......no more loud clunks when i floor it.......However this should be fun getting the original rivits out with a dremel....Oh well...i'll take some pics and post them in a cpl hrs..... Quote
PeNZ Posted November 25, 2005 Report Posted November 25, 2005 Mine didnt have rivits, it had bolts in it. Maybe I got lucky, I dunno. Quote
GP1138 Posted November 25, 2005 Report Posted November 25, 2005 Well in about 15 min. i'm gonna head out into the 20° cold and do my ball joints and brakes. So no more squeking.....no more turning the wheel and having it stay there......no more pulling......no more loud clunks when i floor it.......However this should be fun getting the original rivits out with a dremel....Oh well...i'll take some pics and post them in a cpl hrs..... Don't use a Dremel. Get a set of progressively larger drill bits and drill the rivets out. That's the best and quickest way to go. And oh yeah, join the club. I had to do mine in 20* weather too. Quote
gp90se Posted November 25, 2005 Report Posted November 25, 2005 Mine didnt have rivits, it had bolts in it. Maybe I got lucky, I dunno. yours had been replaced before. I would kill for an electric chissel (sp?) and a good punch, would cut the origial balljoint removal time in 1/2 Quote
Darksyde Posted November 25, 2005 Author Report Posted November 25, 2005 Don't use a Dremel. Get a set of progressively larger drill bits and drill the rivets out. That's the best and quickest way to go. That couldnt be farther from the truth. With the dremel and reinforced discs i cut all 4 rivits in about literally 4 minutes. Here she is stuck like a mother..... Here she is out......man pic does not do it justuce as to how bad this thing is New one all done Dremel discs.....left is new.....right is after 4 rivits Quote
GP1138 Posted November 25, 2005 Report Posted November 25, 2005 Don't use a Dremel. Get a set of progressively larger drill bits and drill the rivets out. That's the best and quickest way to go. That couldnt be farther from the truth. It wasn't all that much longer using the drill bits. Whatever works for you, man. Quote
THe_DeTAiL3R Posted November 26, 2005 Report Posted November 26, 2005 It's almost hard to believe that a car from 91 has never had them done before.. damn! Both my 88 and my 95 had them done. Well the driver's side on my 95 did cause there was bolts (I used my grinder to destroy them cause they were rusted to fuck.. LOL) I dunno about the pass side cause I havne't had to do it yet. Quote
gp90se Posted November 26, 2005 Report Posted November 26, 2005 my 89 has both the originals, and both in good shape 8) Quote
joey b Posted November 26, 2005 Report Posted November 26, 2005 An LQ1 from 91!!! The 3.4 seems to go through suspension parts very quickly. Quote
Grand Moff Joseph Posted November 26, 2005 Report Posted November 26, 2005 My 90 Euro has never had them done either. Quote
Crazy K Posted November 26, 2005 Report Posted November 26, 2005 I did my first w-body one at 0* F and it got to -8 below on the coldest day of the year. I tried the drill guided by a punch mark. in the end I wound up beating the center of the rivit with a punch until each cap could be gripped by a vice grip. I also used a little help from a file to square the edges for grip. -ken Quote
Hairdo12 Posted November 26, 2005 Report Posted November 26, 2005 Nice! I have the originals in my 92 and they are fine... that is what scares me. I am unsure, but do you or don't you have to compress the spring to do the ball joints? Quote
Darksyde Posted November 26, 2005 Author Report Posted November 26, 2005 the spring stays compressed by the strut tower itself. And the only thing stopping the lower control arm from dropping is the sway bar. So it's quite simple. Quote
GOT2B GM Posted November 26, 2005 Report Posted November 26, 2005 Did you use TRW's? I'm going to replace mine in the spring. Quote
THe_DeTAiL3R Posted November 27, 2005 Report Posted November 27, 2005 Nice! I have the originals in my 92 and they are fine... that is what scares me. I am unsure, but do you or don't you have to compress the spring to do the ball joints? It's all in the Haynes manual (for the most part).. simple job, just physically a PITA cause they're stuck on like a bitch. Quote
Darksyde Posted November 27, 2005 Author Report Posted November 27, 2005 don't follow haynes.....they tell you to remove the CV shaft and shit.... Quote
Guest TurboSedan Posted January 13, 2006 Report Posted January 13, 2006 kind of old topic but... i just removed the ball joints from my '96 strut/knuckles (for TSTE front brake upgrade). the Dremel with reinforced discs work VERY well. since i had the strut/knuckle assemblies out of the car, i weakened each side of the rivet with the Dremel and then drilled through each rivet with a 1/8" cobalt drill bit, and then drilled again with another 11/64" cobalt bit. be careful what size drill bit you use and get the bit as centered as possible because you don't want to hog out the holes in the strut/knuckle itself. even after drilling and cutting the rivet heads, the balljoints were still stuck real good. i ended up beating the ball joint stud with a hammer until it seperated from the strut/knuckle took me about 30-40 minutes of work getting those things out! anyways, what brand of ball joint is recommended? can i get ball joints with zerk fittings or are sealed balljoints better? TIA Quote
GnatGoSplat Posted January 13, 2006 Report Posted January 13, 2006 I bought new GM balljoints for mine. The originals were still good with over 200k on 'em, so I figured why not. I only needed new balljoints because the 96 Monte knuckles I bought had balljoints with damaged boots thanks to the picklefork removal method. Quote
Guest TurboSedan Posted January 13, 2006 Report Posted January 13, 2006 do new GM balljoints have zerk fittings? Quote
GnatGoSplat Posted January 13, 2006 Report Posted January 13, 2006 Nope. They're sealed for life. That's why I like 'em. All joints I've ever used with zerks didn't last as long. Quote
mfewtrail Posted January 14, 2006 Report Posted January 14, 2006 The GM part # is 17989117 if you need it Josh. I just looked it up on GMpartsdirect and they list for $52/each though them. Aftermarket ones are going to be around $35-40/each unless you buy some really cheap unheard of brand. I've got TRW's on my car at the moment, they've been on the car for three years and 17,000 miles now with no issues. My original ones lasted 230,000 miles. :shock: Quote
Guest TurboSedan Posted January 14, 2006 Report Posted January 14, 2006 i think i'm going to go with GM. i priced some NAPA balljoints (made by Spicer i believe) yesterday and they wanted $57.97/each. and i definately need to get that balljoint seperator tool. no more pickle forks! Quote
R Dubya Posted January 14, 2006 Report Posted January 14, 2006 I put MOOG ball joints on my TGP when I upgraded to the Lumina knuckles on the front. They are greasable, high quality, and lifetime warrantied. I just used a grinder to lop off the head of the rivets and then used a air punch to push them through.. worked fine. MOOG came with torque #'s as well. I put lifetime TRW's on the front of my 97 Blazer and they are good as well, no issues and I've been using a plow on that too. I wouldn't drill those holes much wider than what they are or you will be finding new studs for the joint kit. Oh yeah definetely find yourself a ball joint separator as they can be a real bitch to separate. Especially if they are OEM and have lotsa miles. Quote
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