I just used a pickle fork to seperate the ball joint and steering knuckle when I did my 123. I wouldn't worry about rebuilding the ball joints, they're too inexpensive to invest that kind of time. About $20/each as I recall. You'll either need to use the ball joint press to reinstall, or remove the lower control arms and take them to a machine shop to have the new ball joints pressed in. Using the correct hammer dramatically speeds up the pickle fork. A 2lb claw hammer don't cut it - get a 5lb sledge.