OK to use hammer to get tie rod end out of Idler Arm?

[deniss]

One of the tie rod ends started making clunking noises on me. I got under the car and could reproduce the clunk by wrestling the passenger-side tie rod around. The center draglink doesn't make any noise. The sound is coming from the tie rod end at the idler arm - coincidentally, one of the tie rod ends that's getting drenched in oil right now while I'm waiting on parts to repair the leak in turbo supply/return lines. (The boot looks fine, so I wonder why it's making noise now...)

1. I was thinking I'd just replace one tie rod end without replacing the whole tie rod... Should it be easy enough to get the tie rod end out of the tie rod?

2. I'm of the "smack the side of the tapered eye with the hammer" school, and pickle forks generally don't work for me. Question is - is it ok to whack the side of the idler arm HARD to get this joint out? I'm guessing yes, but since the factory manual refers to a joint puller/press, I thought I'd double check that I can't damage the idler arm that way.

Thanks.