Lower Ball Joint Hole Slightly elongated

[Bill L.]

I just removed the lower ball joint from one side of my 70. The one rivet came out okay without damage to the hole in the control arm. The one hole is slightly elongated and the drill bit wandered a bit. I read about grinding but thought I had a good plan with the drill. The first side worked perfectly the second not so much.

Can I still rivet in a new ball joint with the slight elongation of the one holes?

Thanks,



Bill

[Joe L.]

Re: Lower Ball Joint Hole Slightly elongated

I just removed the lower ball joint from one side of my 70. The one rivet came out okay without damage to the hole in the control arm. The one hole is slightly elongated and the drill bit wandered a bit. I read about grinding but thought I had a good plan with the drill. The first side worked perfectly the second not so much.

Can I still rivet in a new ball joint with the slight elongation of the one holes? Bill

Bill-------



I don't think there will be any problem.

Thanks,

[Bill L.]

Re: Lower Ball Joint Hole Slightly elongated

Bill-------

I don't think there will be any problem.

Thank you Joe.

I will remove the other side more carefully.

Bill

[Joe L.]

Re: Lower Ball Joint Hole Slightly elongated

I don't think there will be any problem.

Thank you Joe.

I will remove the other side more carefully.

Bill

Bill-------


When you drill them out, this will almost always happen. That's why it's better to try to grind the head off, especially if you do it from the inside. You don't even have to be careful this way because you're replacing the ball joints.

[Bill L.]

Re: Lower Ball Joint Hole Slightly elongated

Bill-------


When you drill them out, this will almost always happen. That's why it's better to try to grind the head off, especially if you do it from the inside. You don't even have to be careful this way because you're replacing the ball joints.

I will do exactly as you suggest.

THank you.

Bill

[Michael G.]

Re: Lower Ball Joint Hole Slightly elongated

You can also drill off the rivet head by starting with a thinner bit to get a good pilot hole and then switch to a bit slightly larger than the rivet shaft. Once the rivet head has been removed by drilling, you can drive the rivet out with a punch without damaging the suspension part.

[Bill L.]

Re: Lower Ball Joint Hole Slightly elongated

You can also drill off the rivet head by starting with a thinner bit to get a good pilot hole and then switch to a bit slightly larger than the rivet shaft. Once the rivet head has been removed by drilling, you can drive the rivet out with a punch without damaging the suspension part.

We may try this too. Thankfully, I do not think we damaged the arm beyond using.

Bill

[Stephen L.]

Re: Lower Ball Joint Hole Slightly elongated

If you have an air compressor, you might try using an air cutoff wheel tool. Its an air driven disc that you could carefully cut the rivet head off, basically like a grinder except that you make multiple cuts on the head. Would be done in about 2 minutes. The tool is available from LOWES or most any place that sells air tools.

[Joe L.]

Re: Lower Ball Joint Hole Slightly elongated

We may try this too. Thankfully, I do not think we damaged the arm beyond using.

Bill

Bill------


Other methods risk damaging the arm. If you remove the head from the inside (using whatever method---grinding, drilling, cut-off wheel, etc.) you risk no damage to the arm. For the upper ball joints, you remove the rivet head from the outside since the ball joint is on the outside of the arm.

[Domenic T.]

Re: Lower Ball Joint Hole Slightly elongated

Bill,
I have shot many rivets and will say that the rivet usually expands to fill the oblong holes. There are oversize rivets in some applications with the same sized heads and a larger shank that require the hole to be drilled slightly larger.
Also there is a tool that fits over the rivet head that centers the drill and keeps it in the center.

DOM

[Bill L.]

Re: Lower Ball Joint Hole Slightly elongated

Bill------


Other methods risk damaging the arm. If you remove the head from the inside (using whatever method---grinding, drilling, cut-off wheel, etc.) you risk no damage to the arm. For the upper ball joints, you remove the rivet head from the outside since the ball joint is on the outside of the arm.

Sounds good. My uppers are in excellent shape. Still nice and tight. Lowers rattle around in the socket! Glad I checked them.

Bill

[Steve G.]

Re: Lower Ball Joint Hole Slightly elongated

Bill------


Other methods risk damaging the arm. If you remove the head from the inside (using whatever method---grinding, drilling, cut-off wheel, etc.) you risk no damage to the arm. For the upper ball joints, you remove the rivet head from the outside since the ball joint is on the outside of the arm.

Try driving them out from the inside. Sounds good in theory, but not so much in practise.

One of the benefits of a rivet over a bolt is that when the rivet is set the shank expands quite tightly against the materials around it making it very secure fit with no room around it, unlike a bolt which has the clearance that allowed it to be inserted.

And therein comes the problem with removing the lowers where the rivet goes through a meaty section of the lower joint. You don't simply cut the head off and expect to drive them out. Not happening. And hammering away on the rivet just expands it, making it a tighter fit.

Cut the head off from the outside. Centre punch the now visible shank of the rivet as close to the middle as you can. Drill it with a small enough bit that you aren't touching the sides. Don't go all the way through, but get darn close to the inside head of the rivet. Go through again with as large a bit as you can without hitting the control arm. Use the largest pin punch you can get in the hole and drive it out.

Drilling it like this relieves the tension on the wall of the rivet. Sounds like a lot of drilling, but the rivets are soft and a sharp bit goes through quickly.

The uppers you can drive out without too much trouble with an air hammer.

Steve

[Bill L.]

Re: Lower Ball Joint Hole Slightly elongated

Bill,
I have shot many rivets and will say that the rivet usually expands to fill the oblong holes. There are oversize rivets in some applications with the same sized heads and a larger shank that require the hole to be drilled slightly larger.
Also there is a tool that fits over the rivet head that centers the drill and keeps it in the center.

DOM

I was thinking this might be the case. Makes me feel much better.

Thanks, Dom

[Bill L.]

Re: Lower Ball Joint Hole Slightly elongated

Try driving them out from the inside. Sounds good in theory, but not so much in practise.

One of the benefits of a rivet over a bolt is that when the rivet is set the shank expands quite tightly against the materials around it making it very secure fit with no room around it, unlike a bolt which has the clearance that allowed it to be inserted.

And therein comes the problem with removing the lowers where the rivet goes through a meaty section of the lower joint. You don't simply cut the head off and expect to drive them out. Not happening. And hammering away on the rivet just expands it, making it a tighter fit.

Cut the head off from the outside. Centre punch the now visible shank of the rivet as close to the middle as you can. Drill it with a small enough bit that you aren't touching the sides. Don't go all the way through, but get darn close to the inside head of the rivet. Go through again with as large a bit as you can without hitting the control arm. Use the largest pin punch you can get in the hole and drive it out.

Drilling it like this relieves the tension on the wall of the rivet. Sounds like a lot of drilling, but the rivets are soft and a sharp bit goes through quickly.

The uppers you can drive out without too much trouble with an air hammer.

Steve

That is how we attempted to do the one side yesterday. The one rivet was not a problem. We were just very slightly off on the other rivet. Based on the responses I am sure it will work out fine.

Thanks, Bill

[Joe L.]

Re: Lower Ball Joint Hole Slightly elongated

Try driving them out from the inside. Sounds good in theory, but not so much in practise.

One of the benefits of a rivet over a bolt is that when the rivet is set the shank expands quite tightly against the materials around it making it very secure fit with no room around it, unlike a bolt which has the clearance that allowed it to be inserted.

And therein comes the problem with removing the lowers where the rivet goes through a meaty section of the lower joint. You don't simply cut the head off and expect to drive them out. Not happening. And hammering away on the rivet just expands it, making it a tighter fit.

Cut the head off from the outside. Centre punch the now visible shank of the rivet as close to the middle as you can. Drill it with a small enough bit that you aren't touching the sides. Don't go all the way through, but get darn close to the inside head of the rivet. Go through again with as large a bit as you can without hitting the control arm. Use the largest pin punch you can get in the hole and drive it out.

Drilling it like this relieves the tension on the wall of the rivet. Sounds like a lot of drilling, but the rivets are soft and a sharp bit goes through quickly.

The uppers you can drive out without too much trouble with an air hammer.

Steve

Steve------

My instructions for rivet removal were not "theoretical". I have removed the rivets the way I described with virtually no problems, at all.