How do you KNOW for sure when an upper or lower ball joint is bad? I'm replacing my upper & lower a-arm bushings with poly's. As long as I'm there, I'm inspecting the ball joints. One a-arm appaently has the original ball joint because it has rivets. It moves all around just fine but, the rubber boot has come apart at the base where it meets the metal. If I replace the ball joint, what is the ez'est way to remove those rivets? Thanks

It definitely needs replaced if the rubbers torn. The easiest way to remove the rivets is with an air chisel.

If you have the Upper A-arms off, it's pretty easy to drill out the rivits in the vise also.

You don't want to find out the hard way like I did. I had a 69 chevy PU and when I pulled out of the diveway, BAM!!!! the drivers side collapsed. Scared the s___ out of me. The tow truck driver told me he had seen this many times and they always let go when you are coming out of a turn. I took the old rivets out with a Dremel tool.

Grind the heads off, take a center punch smaller than the hole, knock em through. Dont drill them. That takes too much time. I found that to be the easiest way. My first ones i drilled. Wont do that again.

I drill them out with a 1/4" or a little larger drill bit. You do not need to go all the way through the rivet.......just enough to weaken the head so you can chisel it off and use a punch to clear the holes.

There is a test and specifications for balljoint play. It's outlined in the GM Chassis Service Manual.