Ball joint replacement on a Dakota.... grrrrrrrr

A friend asked me about places I would recommend to have the front ball joints replaced on his Dakota. I've done a lot and it wasn't any big deal so I said just bring it over and I'll do in an hour. Well, how many times have you said the same thing and it turn into 6 hours of frustration? It turns out that the Dakota's ball joints are not bolted in like one would think they should be, these had been riveted in. The top a-arm was a piece of cake cutting the heads off and a few hammer strikes and they popped out. The bottom ones were almost impossible! What I think happens is when the rivet is being installed it expands locking itself into the ball joint housing making it impossible to hammer it out after removing the head. It turns out I had to cut the head off the rivet and then drill out the damn things. Four per side makes it a rather long job but thankfully rivets are not hardened steel like bolts.

Lesson learned, tell your friends to take it to a shop and let someone else work their guts out.

why did any engineer design ball joints connected with rivets?

I had a Corvette that you had to remove a body panel to swap the battery. I can remember looking at it and thinking, "what idiot designed this?"

we KNOW those manufacturers are just scumbags :hi: :sarcasm: