Thanks for the reply. I am about to go for the same undertaking. I can make that special tool in the picture but have many questions and any advice would be greatly appreciated. First did you remove the whole lower control arm to do the work? If so, assuming you replaced the ball joints at the same time since it is difficult to remove them w/o damaging the boots? Also assuming if you did you had to compress the spring so did you also remove the brake caliper and disc to remove the dust shield for better access? How did you press in the new ones and what method did you use to remove the old ones? Assuming a sawsall? As you can tell I have never done this job but the mechanic want $700+ to do it and it seems possible to do the work. Thank you