John;

That upper ball joint simply I bolts from the car. I am not sure what that extractor would do. 

The bottom is complex enough that a pretty special shaped mandrel (or whatever you call it) is needed; an ordinary cylinder in a press won't do because of the shape of the steering knuckle. 

When I did my front end a few years back, I removed the knuckle with lower joint in situ and took it to a tire place where their mechanic pressed out the old and pressed in the new for $20. Shop around. I got quotes around $100 for the same simple job. 

An alternative would be to get the loaner tool from autozone. They have the expanded kit that other list members have successfully used. Point is that a basic front end set won't do the job. 

You could probably do this with a punch and hammer but I didn't see the need to take that risk. 

Jim

> On Feb 6, 2014, at 11:25 PM, JRodgers <jrodgers113@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> Just scored me a couple of special tools for some front end work.
> 
> 1)  OTC Pitman Arm/Tie Rod End Puller  - Jim Felder loaned me his once -
> and boy did it make a tie rod end change out so simple. Figured I had to
> have one - specially having three vans.
> 
> 2) OTC Upper Ball Joint Extractor - another one of those "must have"
> special tools. Volksiebus is a bit loose so that job is coming up. It's
> going to make it so easy!
> 
> Gonna eventually get into the lower ball joint. I want to be ready.
> 
> These tools are from Amazon Dot Com.
> 
> Joh