Lower ball joint removal

[Goat Farmer]

I am trying to remove the lower ball joint on my 72 GMC 3/4 ton. Haynes says you need to take off the lower control arm, but a guy at my local parts store said he just hammered his off. Is there any way to do this without taking the whole control arm off?

Thanks
BB

[GMCPaul]

Your parts guy is scares me!!!! Don't hammer on them, they are pressed in and out on a bench press, by beating on them with a BF Hammer you run the risk of damaging the a-arm where they seat possibly distorting it so then the new ones may not be held in properly, you wear out new ball joints faster and have alignment problems, plus then by leaving the a-arm on truck you must then beat the new ball joint into the a-arm which you just know isn't good for it either resulting in immediate or pre-mature failure.
Remove a-arms and have them pressed out. Be safe not sorry its your suspension and everyones life thats endangered on the road with your truck by improper suspension work.
GMCPaul