1998 Tahoe Balljoint Replacement

[1997]

"Total time for both sides (and this was my first time) it took me 1hr."

kicked my ass, took me about 4hrs. Those rivets were in there.

 

[ditch bang]

I've seen a few questions about this, and I had to do mine anyhow.. so I put together this how-to.
I used my old school t-bar lug wrench to losen the wheel nuts

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I supported the vehicle with jack stands under the frame and the hydraulic jack under the lower control arm.

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First I had to clean off all this grease garbage.

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At this point, I did remove the one bolt that was holding the brake line bracket in place. (13mm wrench used on both the bolt and nut)

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Then remove the cotter pin from the ball joint nut.

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I ripped the cotter pin in half and took it out in 2 pieces.

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Mine used a 1 1/6" wrench to remove the nut. I spun it all the way off, and then back on a couple threads.

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Not recommended if you expect to re-use the balljoints, I

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Next I used a punch to mark the centers of the rivets.

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I started drilling, used a 1/4" drill bit first

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Drilled all the way through

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and followed that up with a 1/2" to remove the rest of the rivet head

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I used the same punch to wedge between the top of upper control arm and the balljoint, mashed the punch with a ball peen hammer a few times and it lifted

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Which left me with some rivet stumps to deal with

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I tapped them with a hammer until they were down close to the upper control arm, then used a punch to drive them the rest of the way out.

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Once all the rivets were out, I found that I didn't drill them exactly through the center, but that's OK.

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Reassembly is very straight forward, first I screwed in the grease zerk (no picture), then I put the balljoint into position and put in 3 new bolts/nuts

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If you are wondering why I didn't use all brand new bolts, it was because the ones provided in my replacement kit weren't log enough to go through the ball joint, control arm, hold the brake hose bracket and a lock nut. Also by this time you can see that I also put the nut back on the ball joint and the new cotter pin in place. This hint may help one of you, I hope. First I put the ball joint in place and at first the cotter pin hole would have put the pin facing directly at the spindle, which would have been a pain to put in and take out. So I grabbed the balljoint stud with a pair of vice grips and turned it 90 degrees.

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Aside from the jack and jack stand, and 4 way; these are all the tools that were required
Electric drill
1/4" and 1/2" drill bits
13 mm box wrench
13 mm socket and ratchet
vice grips
5/16" socket and quarter inch drive
flat screwdriver
standard hammer
balljoint pickle fork

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Total time for both sides (and this was my first time) it took me 1hr.

I was wondering by the pictures when you took it off the ball joint was on top of the a-arm you put it back together on the bottom . How did the ball joint flip work for you?

 

[Caman96]

I was wondering by the pictures when you took it off the ball joint was on top of the a-arm you put it back together on the bottom . How did the ball joint flip work for you?

One picture does show it on the bottom. 9 years ago, doubtful he’ll respond. The next picture shows it in the correct top position.