84 Seville Ball Joints

[Tom K]

Hello, I'm going to be replacing the lower ball joints on my 84 Seville.  Does anyone have any advice on removing the old ball joints?
Thanks in advance,
Tom

[TJ Hopland]

I have not done them on one of that vintage but being that style of FWD I would imagine that you would end up removing the drive shafts and front brakes.  Hang the calipers off a piece of wire so you dont damage the hoses.  Torsion bar springs are both a good and bad thing.  You will need to find a way to support the car from under the lower control arms while still giving you room to get at the rivets that hold the ball joints in.  When doing front end work on my eldos I jack up the front from the frame, remove the wheels then jack under the lower ball joint to put weight on the springs. THis method wont give you room to get at the lower joint. The farther in the control arm you go the less the springs are going to twist which will make more angle and more unstable.  I would plan plenty of jacks and jack stands and do some testing to find what gives you the most stable situation since you may be doing some banging and dont want the thing falling off the jacks and stands.  The shock is what limits the travel of the lower control arm and torsion bar/spring so you do not want to remove the shocks.   Once you get at them they should be fairly easy to drill or grind out the factory rivets and the new ones ususally come with bolts to hold them in.   While its all apart check your wheel bearings and cv joints.

[Tom K]

Thanks for the advice.  I have more of an idea of supporting the car now.  I'll probably get started here this weekend.