MGF RIVETED BALL JOINTS

1 Where a ball joint is secured to a suspension arm with rivets ( eg MGF front lower arm), the official method of removal is to extract the suspension component and accurately drill through the rivets. Anyone who has attempted to remove the front lower arms on an MGF/TF should know all about the risk of sheared subframe mounting bolts and lower arm captive nuts, so the following steps reveal an easier method of removing the rivets in situ. 2 If you have access to a ramp, then the rivets can be ground off from underneath. Otherwise they will have to be ground off from above, so to create more space, remove the brake caliper and carrier (suspend it to one side on a cable tie) and the brake disc (usually located with a securing screw that can round off). Raise the hub underneath the ball joint, then wedge a tyre lever into the upper arm to help prevent the hub dropping down when working on the lower arm. 3 Undo the pinch bolt securing the lower arm’s ball joint to the base of the hub and extract it. Next, undo the nuts and bolts that hold the anti-roll bar’s drop links to the lower arms. This will allow the lower arm to move down and provide better access to the ball joint’s rivets. 4 Using an angle grinder and grinding disc, try to grind the heads off the three rivets, which hold the ball joint to the lower arm. You may need to move the hub around by turning the steering to provide better access. 5 If space is tight to grind the heads off the rivets, it may be worthwhile cutting the thread off the ball joint. There will then be room to manoeuvre the angle grinder over the remains of the ball joint and grind off the rivets. 6 With the head of the rivets ground off (one side only), the remains can be drifted out. Use a thin drift and a hammer to punch them through. If you have use of a ramp, this job is much quicker by grinding off the heads from underneath. 7 The ball joint should now be free to be removed. It’s sandwiched between the upper and lower layers of the suspension arm, so they may need opening up a little to extract the ball joint, but avoid damaging or bending them. 8 A new front lower arm ball joint is supplied with nuts and bolts to secure it in position. Trial fit the bolts to check they are the correct lengths. Loosely fit everything in position before fully tightening all nuts and bolts.