Suspension questions

[Grabber70Mach]

Are the tie rod ends the same for a 69 and 70 mustang? Are they the same for a 69 w/drum brakes and a 70 w/disc brakes? I am in the process of swapping a disc set off my 70 onto my friends 69 that originally had drums.

On the 69 he has the rivited ball joints but the boots are ripped. Can you drill out the rivits and use the bolt in style?

 

[Rusty67]

Are the tie rod ends the same for a 69 and 70 mustang? Are they the same for a 69 w/drum brakes and a 70 w/disc brakes? I am in the process of swapping a disc set off my 70 onto my friends 69 that originally had drums.

On the 69 he has the rivited ball joints but the boots are ripped. Can you drill out the rivits and use the bolt in style?

For the tie rods you can look at the NPD catalogue to find out. I believe V8 tie rods are the same from 67-70 but I could be wrong.

When you say rivited ball joints are you talking about the upper control arm ? If so then yes, you can drill those out and put in new ball joints that bolt in but I think for only a little more you can get an all new arm.

 

[bnickel]

nope tie rods are different for a 70 from a 69, the pin is larger in diameter and the taper is different as well. you will need to use 70 outer tie rods.

if you are indeed talking about the upper control arms then, yes, you can drill riverts and use a bolt in style ball joint, every mustanger that has ever had the ball joints replaced had to go through this at one time since all of the ball joints were riveted from teh factory.

if you're talking about the lower control arms, that's a different story, for the most part the lower ball joint is not servicable and requires a whole new control arm, sometimes you might get lucky and find an old school replacement ball joint and drill the old rivets out and bolt in the new ball joint but it's not the safest idea and probably why you can't really find that style anymore.

 

[Grabber70Mach]

Thanks I will get a set of 70 outer tie rod ends. Yes I was refering to the UCA ball joints. Could you use a cold chisel or an air chisel to remove the head of the rivits?

 

[70GT500SCJRcode]

Yes but you don't want to dig into the arm. I asked the guy's at my alignment shop what they do and they said to put an X on the top of the rivit with a die grinder with a 3" cutting wheel before using the drift or air hammer. I tried it and the peices came right off.

 

[Grabber70Mach]

Yes but you don't want to dig into the arm. I asked the guy's at my alignment shop what they do and they said to put an X on the top of the rivit with a die grinder with a 3" cutting wheel before using the drift or air hammer. I tried it and the peices came right off.

Thanks I'm going to do it that way in the next couple of days.

 

[Randy'65]

if you're talking about the lower control arms, that's a different story, for the most part the lower ball joint is not servicable and requires a whole new control arm, sometimes you might get lucky and find an old school replacement ball joint and drill the old rivets out and bolt in the new ball joint but it's not the safest idea and probably why you can't really find that style anymore.

I did this several years ago. Not only are there three rivets at the ball joint itself, but the bracket that the ball joint sits in (which is part of the replacement part) is spot welded to the arm itself 2 or 3 inches up the control arm. I thought we'd never get them off.

I will never do that again. Whole control arm is the way to go.