I've looked at doing this but there is not enough room to get a seperator on the joint. I'm sure plenty of folks have tackled this. What is the best way?
Thanks...
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IndianaMark
- Silver
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Sun Feb 06, 2005 2:11 pm
Mark if Barry's method doesn't work for you, try and get your hands on the AR tool.I borrowed one from my local parts guy and it makes the job very easy.
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1986-GTV6
1989-75 Twinspark very sadly sold-remarkable sedan !
2014 Audi Q5 3.0l TDI - torque MONSTER
1989-75 Twinspark very sadly sold-remarkable sedan !
2014 Audi Q5 3.0l TDI - torque MONSTER
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IndianaMark
- Silver
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Sun Feb 06, 2005 2:11 pm
the deed is done
And the answer for me was to get a pickle fork with the biggest hammer in my garage and wham, bam, thank you mam, .....it popped apart. I generally hate to use the brute force method, but the situation seems to require it. If you wanted to save the ball joint, then the Alfa tool would be necessary as the pickle fork rips the rubber boots.
Once seperated, then grind off the large rivet heads holding the ball joint in the uppper control arm (air cut-off tool worked well for this). Then I used an air chisel to pry off the ball joint from the rivet studs. I then worked the rivets free using vice grips to turn them, otherwise the rivets were still extremely tight. I then cut off the showing part of the rivet on the control arm, because it was now a bit chewed up from the vice grips. I put a block of wood between the upper and lower control arm to use as a brace, and used a punch to knock out the remaining portion of the rivets.
The first ball joint was a bit of a "what's next" but the 2nd went OK since I knew what would work..........Hope this can help someone else!
Thanks to the gents who replied.
Once seperated, then grind off the large rivet heads holding the ball joint in the uppper control arm (air cut-off tool worked well for this). Then I used an air chisel to pry off the ball joint from the rivet studs. I then worked the rivets free using vice grips to turn them, otherwise the rivets were still extremely tight. I then cut off the showing part of the rivet on the control arm, because it was now a bit chewed up from the vice grips. I put a block of wood between the upper and lower control arm to use as a brace, and used a punch to knock out the remaining portion of the rivets.
The first ball joint was a bit of a "what's next" but the 2nd went OK since I knew what would work..........Hope this can help someone else!
Thanks to the gents who replied.