Anyone ever do this job in the driveway?
I still have the original and am told by my mechanic that they are riveted in and will require some serious work, even by the tech, to change.
Anyone do it themselves with hand tools? How long and how difficult?

 

I have done it using no power tools and never will do it again (well, mostly because I have air tools now, but I'll never do it with out the air tools). It is a royal pain in the butt! If you don't even have a grinder, you either have to drill the rivets (start small) or use a cold chisel and hammer (the method I employed. Man what a PAIN!! I did one side, then called around to local shops and got a price that was too good to be true and took them up on it for the other. I will say that the uppers are not as bad as the lowers in terms of difficulty getting them off.

 

Agreed with swartlkk. I did this with my dad last fall on my truck and it was a pain in the butt, but it saved me something like $600. Now the question is, was working on the truck for that weekend for 10 hours each worth $600. To me yes cause I am a college student, now that I am looking at jobs as an engineer, I would take it to the shop to do next time.

I used hand tools and a dremel and drill to get out the rivets. Good luck if you decide to do it your self, there is a pretty helpful how to on this forum that I referenced a lot.

 

The uppers you need to drill out the rivets but the good news is that the replacements are bolted in. For the lowers go to autozone and get the ball joint press. AutoZone does not charge you to borrow the tools. You pay a deposit and get it all back when you return the tool. The lower ones will be the most difficult to do without an impact wrench. The lowers ball joints need to be pressed out and in. You might be able to rent an electric impact wrench. I helps if you have a ball joint fork as well to get the steering knuckle off of the ball joints.

 

I just did mine last friday. With and air chisel and a buddies help it still took us 5 1/2 hours. 3 and 1/2 of that was just trying to get the lower ball joint rivets out. after we used a one foot high tensil punch and a bfh we managed to bash them out. Not a fun job the first time they have to be changed, but well worth the $700 that I saved plus. I will know how to do this for the lifetime of the truck so the next time I go to do it, it won't cost me any more than an alignment. The ball joints have a lifetime warrenty and I have all the tools so it will only cost me time. I am guessing that the next time I do it all 4 should only take about 2 hours. (if that)

 

Chiltons manualfor the upper ball joint saysto drill the rivets with a 1/8 drill bit 1/4 in deep, then drill the rivet head off with a 1/2 drill bit and then punch out the rivets. Use the ball joint press to remove and install the lower ball joint. When I did mine I had more trouble with the ball joint press than I did with drilling out the rivets. But I had never used the press before and took me a little while to figure out the correct way to use it. But it having an impact wrench for the ball Joint press is a must I believe.

 

Thanks.
Makes my mechanic sound cheap. The older I get, the more I pay my mechanic.

Rear brakes and that hole in the fender, here I come.

 

I used my snap on air hammer with a fairly sharp chisel and getting the rivets out was not easy at all. without airtools I would never attempt it.

 

I don't know........ Uh It took me about 2 hours to do my Bravada and then about 1-1/2 to do my Blazer since I was now experienced. I used a chisel and 4 pound hammer to get the rivets out and air wrench & sockets sockets for all the bolts. I saved about 600 bucks by doing both of these vehicles myself.