Ball joints!!

[mrrec]

Ok, Rick. Now I see. You mean I did all that for nothing??
Dave

[Lynn]

[ QUOTE ]
Ok, Rick. Now I see. You mean I did all that for nothing??
Dave

[/ QUOTE ]

Heck no, it just provided a little more education for the rest of us.

Thanks.

Lynn

[CamarosRus]

Treat bare metal EVERYTHING with BoeShield T-9

[k92]

The original rivets on my ls6 did not look like yours. As I remember, they were peened over on the bottom and flat on the top.

[Mark_C]

What's the diameter of the flat part of the rivet? Mcmaster Carr sells 1/4" flat head rivets either 1/2" or 3/4" long and the head is .500" in diameter and .083 thick, or 5/16" in diameter either 5/8" or 3/4" long with a head diameter of .624 and .104" thick. They are made of C1006 low strength plain steel. Sold in 1 lb boxes (about 35 for the 5/16" by 3/4" rivets to 80 for the 1/4" by 5/8"rivets) for about 6.21 a box.

Don't know how strong (or weak) C1006 steel is.

www.mcmastercarr.com page 3106 of their catalog.

[mrrec]

Since 1/4" was the orig size, it's 1/2" head is correct and what I turned the 5/16" rivets down to. All rivets are mallable, low strength steel but rivets still have more holding power than most bolts. Buy the 5/16 and turn down the heads.

Incidentally, all FACTORY assembled Chevrolets that I have ever seen had ball joints installed as pictured and described.
Dave

[Enoch]

The steel in the rivets once compressed cold or hot in the "squishing" process takes on a forged quality to it so the are very hard. When I install the rivets I heat them up cherry red and peen them over with a air chisel and dolly (Bugs Bunny style) and in doing so the rivets are almost impossible to drill out (I know as in the learning process I made my share of mistakes on practice parts).