If you're replacing the upper or lower ball joints and they are bolted and not rivets, you are lucky. I have a 1997 dodge dakota 2wd and mine are rivets. The top three rivets on the upper ball joint was not bad as far as cutting off the heads, then a good hard hit, and they came out, not to hard. But, the lower ball joint was a different story altogether . I don't have a lift, so I could only get to the tops of the rivets. After cutting them off I pounded on them for a week and the only thing I accomplished was destroying the lower control arm, I never did get even one rivet to come out. The good news is that I purchased a set of lower control arms, and they came with the ball joints attached, my only beef with this is that they are rivets and not bolted. But I found that it's much easier just to replace the whole thing rather than trying to cut the tops of the rivets and pound them out. This direct replacement was actually cheaper than buying just the ball joints. I paid less than 100 for both drivers and passengers side, not bad
Your right, Those rivets are a doozie!! to beat out, really takes a lot of force, what I do is take a cut off wheel and cut the heads of the rivets off, then use a good solid punch and Hammer, and beat them out, and if they are really stubborn I break out the torch to heat them up and then beat them out, but yeah if it's cheaper to go the route you mentioned, I say go for it and save time, thanks for watching 👍
If you're replacing the upper or lower ball joints and they are bolted and not rivets, you are lucky. I have a 1997 dodge dakota 2wd and mine are rivets. The top three rivets on the upper ball joint was not bad as far as cutting off the heads, then a good hard hit, and they came out, not to hard. But, the lower ball joint was a different story altogether . I don't have a lift, so I could only get to the tops of the rivets. After cutting them off I pounded on them for a week and the only thing I accomplished was destroying the lower control arm, I never did get even one rivet to come out. The good news is that I purchased a set of lower control arms, and they came with the ball joints attached, my only beef with this is that they are rivets and not bolted. But I found that it's much easier just to replace the whole thing rather than trying to cut the tops of the rivets and pound them out. This direct replacement was actually cheaper than buying just the ball joints. I paid less than 100 for both drivers and passengers side, not bad
Your right, Those rivets are a doozie!! to beat out, really takes a lot of force, what I do is take a cut off wheel and cut the heads of the rivets off, then use a good solid punch and Hammer, and beat them out, and if they are really stubborn I break out the torch to heat them up and then beat them out, but yeah if it's cheaper to go the route you mentioned, I say go for it and save time, thanks for watching 👍