My front tires were wearing out on the outside edge so I figured that the 
front alignment was out of whack.  Well, I bought new front tires and had 
the alignment done.  The alignment guy was not able to get the right 
front wheel to align.  He said that the upper ball joint was pretty loose 
and needed to be replaced. 

Has anyone checked/replaced these ball joints?  How do I make sure that 
the ball joint is bad?  If it is bad how hard is it to replace?  It seems 
like the ball joint just bolts in.  Is this a job that I can do or do I 
need to take it to the dreaded dealer?