eric,

If you are having trouble getting the ball joint loose from the spindle, it might be a good time to replace them as long as you have it apart. There are a couple ways to get them apart. Support the car on the frame so the lower a-arm is free. Remove the cotter pin and loosen the castle nut, but do not remove it. Leave it at least 1/2 way on the ball joint stud. Now take a sledge or big ball peen hammer and strike the spindle collar from the side where the ball joint stud goes through it. This way the pressure from the spring is still on and the shock from the hammer blows should break any rust loose that his holding the ball joint stud into the spindle. You may need to hit it several times, and you need to smack it pretty hard. Once it pops loose, then support the conrtol arm with a jack and remove the castle nut. You then should be able to lower the control arm and remove the spring. You need to unbolt the anti-sway bar also. Be very carefull as those springs are under a lot of pressure and can be unpredictable. They can really hurt you. If the hammer method does not work, you can borrow a ball joint seperator (aka pickle fork) from your local AutoZone. They loan them for free, a great resource. The lower balljoint is pressed into the control arm. To remove it you can drive it out with a hammer. Heating the control arm may help, but be careful of the grease, it is flammable. To install the new balljoint I always put them in the freezer for a few hours, then put grease around them so they press in easier. You may be able to borrow a press from AutoZone to remove and install it, but if none is available try this. Place the balljoint in the control arm from the bottom, then use a bottle jack or something similar with a piece of wood between it to press the joint into the arm from below. With the jack pressing up, and the weight of the car pressing down, the frozen ball joint should press into the arm. You will need to have put the spring back in place before doing this. As Pro70Z28 mentioned, a spring compressor may be needed especially for the new springs. AutoZone may have that too. Again, be very careful working with those springs, they have tremndouse power and can hurt you severely. Some of these methods are old hammer mechanic ways, but they still work.

Pat