Replacing ball joints

I am in the processof repairing my front end. I am replacing the shocks and the ball joint. I have the struts out but the ball joint doesnt want to come out. I have tried air chizzling it but nothing works. Usually air chizzling works to get them out but for some reason it wont come. Im thinking of using a blow torch to heat it up but before I do I just wanted to get bany ideas from people that have already done the ball joints. I have heard most people just replace the lower arm so they dont have to worry about getting the ball joint out but I dont want to spend over 200+ dollars more for no reason. Any help/ teqniques will be helpful. Thanks

Are you talking about the lower (outer) ball joint just below the shock?

If so, try a press. I always suggest that first. They are designed to push them out. But they never have for me for ANY vehicle I am working on. So I always end up spraying it with PB Blaster and beating it with a 3 lb sledge until it comes out. When I did my E36 it took me about 45 mins of pounding. Hope yours doesnt take that long

Good luck

Bryan

I finally got the outer ball joint out. I had to heat it with a blow torch and pound it out with an air chizzle, this took many attempts as well as strategies. Heating the ball joint up and air chizzling it out seemed to work the best. Putting the new ball joint in may have been the harder of the two. It took hours of making tools to help get the ball join on but finally it went on. I used a press which is pretty much he only way to do it. The press I rented didnt have great spacers so I had to make my own and after adjusting it exactly the ball joint went on. I now see why people replace the whole arm instead of just the ball joints. I hope I never have to do this again. I still have to take the other side off and put the new one on. The only good thing is I now know a good strategy to do it. I hope this helps people for the future.

Thanks for all the advice guys, I am still going to do mine myself, I scored a second hand set of 91 munroe struts to.