my 70 chevelle has a bad passenger side upper ball joint. also the driver side coil spring has saged. so i thought i would replace all of the ball joints and new coil springs and shocks.

i got a price to replace the ball joints and a front end alinement. i supply the parts, they wanted 350 - 400 labor. this seemed expensive. just looking for input.

thanks,
eddie

If you have a safe flat place to work and can "borrow" a ball joint removal tool and maybe a spring compressor from Autozone, it's a weekend job. Elbow grease!!!!!!

Even if all you do is remove and reinstall, a machine shop won't charge you too much to remove and reinstall the lower ball joints.

The uppers bolt in (you have to drill out the stock rivets).

Where this CAN get involved, if you replace the bushings while you have the arms off and get everything sand blasted and painted. This is an ideal time to save repeating the labor and do it all.

The bushings will take more elbow grease, or you can let a machine shop remove & reinstall.

You have to make sure they can do it without bending the arms up.

Oh yeah, inspect the lower arm where the ball joint goes in. The lower arms cracks right there.

Lots of guys here have done it more than once. So let us know. graemlins/beers.gif

It can be a royal pain. You definitely want to swap the bushings while you're at it.

When you consider the price of labor, it's cost effective to buy an inexpensive press from Harbor Freight so you can do it all yourself without a whole lot of headaches (plus you'll have the press available for other jobs graemlins/thumbsup.gif ). It's still a little involved, but those loaner ball joint presses that let you do it on the car are a royal PITA.

$350-400 seems like a fair price for labor, but check another shop or two to find out. And you may be able to find someone who'll do a little side work cheap.

Don't be afraid to ask more detailed questions. This is one area where you'll want as many ideas as possible.

I'm with these guys. It is a weekend job (did my 70 last summer) but I lucked out and had my buddy supply the speciality tools and an extra set of hands! Just take your time and ask questions here.

I learned the hard way. I've done some desprite things like knocking the bottom ball joint out with a nail hammer. If at all possible get a ball joint remover tool. It's worth it's weight in gold. You should be able to do it in about 3 hours with the proper tools.

Would a 12-ton press be adequate to press out bushings and ball-joints?

I've got the Snap-On ball joint kit, works great for me. I lube it up before each use, snug everything up, and hit it with the impact, does the job quick. As far as the uppers, a quicker, less painful way of getting the rivets out is to slice the head with a small cutoff wheel in a die grinder, then use an air chisel to take the rest of the head off. Takes about 5 minutes to do one if you're set up for it. If you've got an air compressor, investing in the rest of the tools for the job will come in way under the quote you got for labor. OTC makes the same lower ball joint press, for about $350 less than the Snap-On. I bought it when I was in a jam, couldn't find the OTC locally. It is nice to have around, have helped a lot of friends out with it.

Originally posted by 1966_L78:
Would a 12-ton press be adequate to press out bushings and ball-joints? Works for me! Just make sure you have something in there to keep from bending the arms when you press the bushings out. I use pieces of split exhaust tubing cut to the size of the openings.

thanks, for all the input. we have a harbor freight local, not a problem. i have been wanting a press any how.

i have air hammer, and air compressor. who is OTC sorry i don't recognize this name. all mt tools are craftsman or campbell H. air tools. i have a air cutoff wheel and diegrinder two floor jacks.

as far as spring compressor, i thought about 3/8" about 16" long althread with large grade 8 washer on bottom and top mounting as a shock. and then back nut off unit tension is released. just a thought. i plan to completely rebuild new bushings springs bumpers and paint.

i just did the front brakes from the spindles out everything new including master cyl.

chad, i agree with your statement.

thanks,
eddie

Originally posted by 70metgrn:
who is OTC sorry i don't recognize this name. They make a lot of heavy duty and specialty tools for truck and automotive service. They also make a nice scanner. Check their web site here: OTC (http://www.otctools.com/frames-catalog.php3)

Type in 7249 in the search, that's the press I'm referring to. I did a google search for OTC 7249, found it for $90 at one place. Well worth the money if you like older cars.

Check the yellow pages for local "Rent-It" centers or a good parts store. I've rented a ball joint press kit for about $12 many times from my local outfit. Also there's been a radio ad on around here for a parts chain that rents tools FREE, just leave a deposit.

If you've got a good set of basic hand tools, a safe place to work, and some occasional help it is a weekend job. Plan on 3 weekends if you're going to clean and repaint everything. ;)

70metgrn, your idea of using a long threaded rod is bang on. But use a 5\8 inch rod. It will fit into the top shock hole snug and use some thick flat iron with hole in the centre at the bottom. You can easily tighten the spring to get the spindle back on using the rod, and you won't need 2 floor jacks, one for each side. I used the threaded rod last week in removing and installing spindles on my 69 cutlass. It also worked for my 65 chevelle.