same Boat
Hartman, there are threads here that claim the lowers are easier than the uppers. I am going to do my upper arms, (or at least try) as soon as I know I will have a weekday or 2 with no drizzle, rain, or snow...
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CUT and paste from other threads
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The lower ball joints are a piece of cake to replace yourself. This is a job that you can do yourself.
All you need to do is jack it up, pull the tire and wheel, then pull the rotor and take tie rod off the steering knuckle. then remove the steering knuckle from the lower ball joint. Then remove the c-ring (on the top side of the balljoint.Note the balljoint actually faces toward the ground)and with a gear puller remove the balljoint. I had to replace one in Moab and didn't have a gear puller, so I just got the largest socket I had and with a BFH pounded it out. It came out pretty easy, then I pounded the new one back in, put the new c-ring back on and put the whole thing back together. It took me about 2 hours to figure everything out, but after you do the first one, it should only take you about 30 to 45 minutes max to do the other side. The balljoint that I got at the parts store cost $40.00, but it was not a moog.
Save your money and do it yourself.
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just did mine on my '97 two weeks ago. It took all day but I had to make three trips to various places for parts. Do both lower ball joints, they are cheap but start with the one you know is bad in case you don't get to the other one right away. I never did a 2WD so I can't say if there is any difference or not. Here is what I found was the best way to do mine:
1) Jack up the front end letting both tires drop as far as they'll drop.
2) Remove the tires.
3) Remove the brake caliper (tie it up with bailing wire).
4) Tie some strong bailing wire from the top of your front shock mounts to your upper control arm so that it doesn't drop too much.
5) Remove the torsion bar (a heavy duty, 2-arm puller works excellent for this, be sure and mark both ends in relation to the lower control arm and the torsion bar adjuster to be certain you get them in the same orientation).
6) Take a 2 pound sledge hammer and hammer on the bottom ball joint stud to knock it out of the spindle (remove the nut and cotter pin first).
7) Remove the two bolts that hold the lower control arm to the vehicle.
8) Remove the lower control arm with the ball joint still in it.
9) Use the largest socket that will fit against the lower ball joint, but still go through the ball joint hole and hammer against the ball joint with a 2 pound sledge hammer until it pops out of the lower control arm.
10) Now you'll have to use some ingenuity to press the new one back in.
11) I took a piece of fence pipe that I had that was a bit too small and cut it to about 3" long. I then slit it from end to end and spred it open to fit it over the new ball joint so that it fit against the metal lip. I then used a piece of pipe on the side of the control arm that the ball joint was going in to and put the whole thing in my vice. I pressed the whole thing together with my vice. I had to go through several pieces of pipe and a lot of cuss words but I got it. It would have been a lot easier if I would have had a 2' piece of 2" diameter pipe to put over my vice hancle to use as a cheater bar though. If the new ball joint seal has a grease weap whole, be sure and position it away from the rotor.
12) Start putting things back together.
13) If your replacement ball joints have grease fittings, be sure and fill them full of grease.
14) Get the front end aligned.
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