Ah, I've read that a hundred times but I always forget to do it! Maybe in 5 years when I need to do ball joints on some other stray Benz that I've "saved", and I've forgotten all about this thread and how to install BJs, I'll do a search and find this thread and read about freezing/heating and have a smoother time of it.
rwd4evr, yeah I really hesitated to hammer out the old joints, and tried everything else that I could think of first. But then I saw that the method in the factory manual is with a hammer. Once you've tried other things, and then use a hammer, you will see that that way is best.