Here is the stock upper control arm with bushings removed and stock upper ball
joint still in place. You can see in this picture that the stock ball joint is riveted into the control arm.
Using a drill bit, drill out the
rivet heads.
Once the rivet heads have been
removed
you can hit the ball joint shaft on a hard surface and the ball joint
should pop out of the control arm.
When you're done, the upper
control arm will look like this. Now is the time to clean up the control
arm, and if you want to get crazy, you can have your arm painted, powder coated,
or chromed. We'll set ours aside for now and finish taking the
suspension apart.