Ordered a new passenger side ball joint for my car which turned up this morning, took the wheel off etc to find that the orginal one is bloody rivetted on! Id had a look on google and it was adament that they were 3 bolts not rivets (now Ive found out thats on the later models only!)

Is it safe to take the wishbone off and grind the bolts out or is this not the case at all? I dont want to grind them out to find that its all pressed together!

Thanks.

 

They are all riveted from the factory. Your kit should have bolts and yes, you grind off the head of the old rivets, punch them out and wiggle the old ball joint out. The replacement then bolts in.

 

Sweet. Thank you very much!

 

They didnt seem to want to come out the arm bent before they even looked like they were going to move!

 

When we used to to replace ball joints on mk3 Fiestas etc, we used an anvil and something like a socket to sit the arm on (sshhh!) that the rivet will pass through.

Also I'd advise using a pillar drill to drill the heads off rather than grinding into the arm itself.

 

would have been easier to replace the complete arm mate

i did this to the mondeo and they are in there TIGHTER than TIGHT

spent more time fucking about trying to get them off than i did changing the ball joint over all, and seeing as the arm has to come out anyway, you may as well change the whole arm