Man... Okay, I'm pretty beat so I'm gonna try and make this as short as possible...

Yesterday, around 5pm, I went over to my dad'* house, and I was thinking "Hey! I could try out the new jackstands and change out my endlinks!" Well, when I got there, my dad was having trouble with his '99 Taurus, so I helped him out a little with that. While I was helping, I finally found the culprit of my seemingly low-aired driver-front tire... a screw/nail stickin right out of it at me. It had seemed low for almost a week. Okay, no biggie, bought 'em at Discount Tire, so I take it there, get it patched up, and boom, back at parent'* house...

Well, as the afternoon wear'* into evening, I finally started on jackin up MY car for the endlinks, my dad and I had been tossin around the dilemma that my right-lower-front ball joint has been needing replacement for about 2 months. I start on the endlinks anyways. He comes outside and thinks I'm goin for the ball joint. Next thing I know he'* breakin out power tools, lol. Guess what... Halfway into it, I notice that the tire that was patched earlier... FLAT!

Moving on....

Of course, as Murphy'* Law would dictate, the ball joints have rivets, and we don't have access to any cutting torches of any kind, the best we got is a loaner ball-joint separator from O'Reilly. We were up until 1:45AM trying to break/drill/saw those damn things off with dremels, air-chisels, and a power drill! We finally call it quits and retire...

This morning, got better lighting (this is all outside in the driveway with no enclosure at all), so we went to it and after about 2-3 hours and my dad being happy with his slew of new tools that he bought in the process of all this, we get it done! Even got the new Energy Suspension endlinks on (both sides-front end). Course, I wouldn't know how well they work exactly seeing as I've been driving pretty slow on the spare tire. I gotta get that fixed AGAIN in the morning.

Well, as luck would have it, we had to go get grease cause dad was out, and then the wheel kept screeching when I would drive! Had to take the tire off AGAIN to fix the stupid metal shield behind the disc. We accidentally bent the stupid thing to where it was making contact with the disc itself. After all this craziness I now have fixed the ball joint, got new front endlinks that I can't quite truly feel until after the tire'* repaired, and I'm getting the windows tinted on Tuesday. After that I have to start shopping around to get my A/C repaired. I know the clutch and bearings are bad, other than that I think it just needs a recharge. Any suggestions?

Man, all this the day after my girl'* prom, which pictures are still coming by the way...
http://www.bonnevilleclub.com/forum/...ic.php?t=76989

How come I always feel like the Tim "The Toolman" Taylor of auto repair....

/end not-very-short-after-all rant

Endlinks should be done on ramps (weight ON wheels), not jackstands.

Thanks Will, I figured that out when I was trying to get it to the right torque specs, and the darned thing wouldn't click... I was afraid I'd break the bolt, so I started back over then. Like I said, I tend to do everything the hard way... heh

We all did it the first time once upon a time.

Rat bastids didn't tell me until the 2nd time that ramps are the way to go.

The balljoint... uh yeah. Most fight them pretty hard. It'* not only that they are factory rivets, but that they are factory rivets and put in while melted metal.

Even torching them.. you still have to heat the balljoint around the rivet to expand it for the rivet to come out. There is no doubt GM has them adhered to the control arm.

Muahahaha, not anymore they don't! lol

We sure do have the bumps and scrapes and smashed fingers to prove it though, lol.

I spent about 3 hours one night and knew what I was getting into when I changed one. The next was a mechanic buddy and his torch. After torching off the heads..they still wouldn't come out. Had to heat the balljoint to loosen it'* grip.

Wow, imagine this...

1.) air-chisel... til about 9:00pm, couldn't continue because of noise.
2.) Liquid wrench and hand chisels
3.) Power drill (various bit sizes over a period of time)

Next morning...
4.) Me trying to use a sledge and flathead screwdriver while dad got new chisels and bits
5.) Dad'* new chisels
6.) More power drill
7.) Finally released by way of chisel-punches

Fun 24 hours, lemme tell ya. lol

I understand.

I started with air chisel, tried air punch in an optimistic approach that the headless rivit would come out. I moved up to 8" angle grinder (most things come apart in fear of this puppy), then went on to air drill with many bits. Finally I used the grinder to remove most of the ball joint material and they finally came out.

I understand ....

lol, the new energy suspension is very nice though. I must admit, now that I actually have all four tires, instead of running on a spare!

Next up, rear suspension, tinted windows, and hopefully a working A/C.. otherwise, summer'* gonna kill me! lol


P.*. I've also got a couple new mods for the interior, but I'll share those later... Sending a PM