Homegrown Riveted Ball Joints

[Tracy C.]

I had some "quality time" out in the shop yesterday and was able to complete the installation of the balljoints on my upper control arms. Although the actual rivet procedure took less than hour for both, there was ALOT of preparation leading up to this point. I'm taking some pictures along the way with a goal of eventually writing an article for the Restorer on the complete restoration of my control arms. This post is just a teaser.. The only problem is at the slow rate I'm moving it will be awhile.

Hopefully these will pass the scrutiny of the chassis judges...

tc



I removed the grease boot to buck the rivets and took the pic before installing it later..

[Larry M.]

Re: Homegrown Riveted Ball Joints

Outstanding!!

Larry

[Michael H.]

Re: Homegrown Riveted Ball Joints

Hopefully these will pass the scrutiny of the chassis judges...

tc



I removed the grease boot to buck the rivets and took the pic before installing it later..

Looks good TC. How did you do that?

(by the way, if this is for your 63, yer gunna need 90* grease fittings)

[James W.]

Re: Homegrown Riveted Ball Joints

Looks good TC. How did you do that?

(by the way, if this is for your 63, yer gunna need 90* grease fittings)

Very nice job, Tracey. I'm looking forward to reading your article

Jim

[Tracy C.]

Re: Homegrown Riveted Ball Joints

Looks good TC. How did you do that?

(by the way, if this is for your 63, yer gunna need 90* grease fittings)

Thanks all for the comments..

Here is the executive summary version..

1. Clamp the ball joint in place on the control arm (align with unbucked rivets)
2. Remove one of the rivets and nest it head down into a homemade form fitted bucking bar.
3. Heat the rivet to a glowing cherry red
4. Drop the clamped control arm/balljoint assy down over the hot rivet
5. Drive the butt end with a 4X rivet gun at 120 psi.

Steps 4 & 5 need to be done at warp speed as the rivet will be room temp by the time you finish driving it.

The upper control arms are a piece of cake, but I'm still working the tooling for the lowers. The rivet size is larger so I expect them to be a bit more challenging.

Mike..These are for my 63. (you probably noticed the low gloss finish on the control arm itself). Will just any 90 degree zerk be fine or are these hard to come by?

tc

[Michael H.]

Re: Homegrown Riveted Ball Joints

Mike..These are for my 63. (you probably noticed the low gloss finish on the control arm itself). Will just any 90 degree zerk be fine or are these hard to come by?

tc

Tracy,

As far as I know, the 90* fittings used on upper and lower ball joints for 63-64 were common auto parts store variety. I've never actually compared any to originals though.
All four should point forward when installed.

I think 65 was the first year for straight fittings for these locations.

[Tracy C.]

Re: Homegrown Riveted Ball Joints

I finished up my lower ball joints tonight. I'm pretty satisfied with the results and thought someone may like to see them..

tc

[Timothy B.]

Re: Homegrown Riveted Ball Joints

Tracy,

Are the ball joints GM or the new reproductions?

You did a very nice job...

[Tracy C.]

Re: Homegrown Riveted Ball Joints

Thanks Tim,

These are the repops from America's Finest Corvettes.

tc

[Michael H.]

Re: Homegrown Riveted Ball Joints

Thanks Tim,

These are the repops from America's Finest Corvettes.

tc

Looks good TC.

Looks like someone needs to tell the folks at America's Finest Corvettes about the incorrect grease fitting if it's for 63-64.

[Tracy C.]

Re: Homegrown Riveted Ball Joints

Looks good TC.

Looks like someone needs to tell the folks at America's Finest Corvettes about the incorrect grease fitting if it's for 63-64.

Thanks, I tried to make these look like the factory rivets from some known originals off a 66. I think James White had previously posted those pics or he had emailed them to me in responce to my request a few months back. I don't have access to those pics now or I'd post them for comparison.

There is a good chance AFC would provide the correct zerk if it was requested. They were pretty easy to work with. I hosed the first upper ball joint I tried to install, and they sold me another one at reduced cost to replace it.

tc

[Mike E.]

Re: Homegrown Riveted Ball Joints

Tracy,
Just wanted to tell you thanks for your help on the control arm rivets, I think they came pretty decent not perfect but ok. Here's some before and after shots of the parts.
































Thanks again!

Mike

[Tracy C.]

Re: Homegrown Riveted Ball Joints

Mike,

Your control arms look great and those rivets look just like the factory originals!! Glad you took the plunge and did these yourself. This is just a little thing, but something you can take significant pride in doing.

This is the kind of thing that keeps the "Restorers" in the NCRS..Way to go !

tc

[Michael G.]

Re: Homegrown Riveted Ball Joints

I had some "quality time" out in the shop yesterday and was able to complete the installation of the balljoints on my upper control arms. Although the actual rivet procedure took less than hour for both, there was ALOT of preparation leading up to this point. I'm taking some pictures along the way with a goal of eventually writing an article for the Restorer on the complete restoration of my control arms. This post is just a teaser.. The only problem is at the slow rate I'm moving it will be awhile.

Hopefully these will pass the scrutiny of the chassis judges...

tc




I removed the grease boot to buck the rivets and took the pic before installing it later..

No pics TC......let's have a look..............

[Mike E.]

Re: Homegrown Riveted Ball Joints

Mike,

Your control arms look great and those rivets look just like the factory originals!! Glad you took the plunge and did these yourself. This is just a little thing, but something you can take significant pride in doing.

This is the kind of thing that keeps the "Restorers" in the NCRS..Way to go !

tc

Thanks,
I actually ordered 1/4" longer rivets for the uppers. The rivets that came with the ball joints were IMO too short, and the heads that were formed were too small. I also used the 1/4" rivet set in a 9X Gun for both the upper and lower. My bucking blocks were exactly like yours.

I was not only concerned about the look but safety was a worry. Somewhere in my travels I recall someone's upper ball joint coming loose and the spindle going up through the arm. I don't remember if it was riveted or bolted but I sure didn't what that to happen.

I should be able to use the same technique to rivet front rotors to hub and rear rotors to the spindles.


Mike