Ball Joint removal SAFETY

While helping a friend change the ball joints on his Dakota we ran into a few difficulties.
1. The original ball joint asembly was riveted in place

2.we ground the tops off of the rivets after 2 ruined air hammer blades because the air hammer was the reccomended course of action.

3. the rivet left in the a-arm would not come out, we beat on it with a punch and RBFH for a while, then decided to apply heat and try again....

here is where safety comes in.......DO NOT HEAT A BALL JOINT! the only thing I can figure is that the grease left in the joint burned and expanded, causing a buildup of pressure behind the ball. after heating for a minute the joint EXPLODED! punching a hole in the plywood we had under the truck to keep us off of the gravel and denting the roof over us on its rebound.

the technique that worked?

cold......after cutting the tops of the rivets off, we drilled them out, not completely,only 1/2 inch deep, and only about half of the diameter, this gave enough play so the punch hit the bottom of the hole andwouldn't mushroom the rivet, and make it tighter.

we tried drilling hot at first because heat softens metal right......problem was we couldn't keep the bit cool enough to hold its edge, so keep it cool.


Just a PSA from me NO HEATING BALL JOINTS!

goodburbon said:

we tried drilling hot at first because heat softens metal right......problem was we couldn't keep the bit cool enough to hold its edge, so keep it cool.

Click to expand...

Heat when drilling is bad. You want to keep the bit lubed well to lessen heat and bit wear. Heat and bit wear actually harden the metal you are trying to put a hole in.

If you are going to heat something put the heat on the knuckle, not the joint. If you do apply heat, do so sparingly, a little goes a long way.

Also, hit the knuckle with a hammer during the press out.

different setup from solid axle.....ball joint is on an a-arm, and yes, you heat up the material around the hole, not the thing in the hole, heat makes things expand, so in a jeep application you would heat the knuckle....But you wont catch me heating any kind of Ball joint.

I use the grind it off and drill method also. I've found smearing the area where you ground off the rivet head, with a magic marker then wiping the excess, often leaves a stain ring around the outside of the rivet (metal marking dye works even better). Which makes finding the center much easier. I've had trouble finding the center (or even the edges) of the rivet once I've ground it off.
I don't use heat like I used too, it's only happened twice, but I've had cast steel explode on me. If there is an air bubble someplace inside the cast iron, it will blow. I had one YJ front axle knuckle yoke blow on me, trying to remove a really stubborn ball joint. The top three inches of the knuckle yoke popped right off, you could see the air pocket/casting flaw after it separated.