[COBALT]

I just finished getting my upper and lower ball joints out yesterday. I ended up doing it the same way Benrs86 did, because that lower ball joint was NOT going to come out with the spring in place. No way.

I put the jack under the control arm assemblies, and gave it a little pressure. Then I unbolted the U-bolts and took them out (don't just assume they'll come out with the assembly!!! They may hang up.). Then I slowly let the jack down, and the springs just fell out.

That takes some of the pressure off the ball joint. After that I just stuck the pickle fork in the lower joint, and two-handed the 5lb hammer to get it to separate! In the more extreme cases you might have to heat up the spindle with the ole propane torch. I had to with the uppers...

I'm not going to deal with getting the actual joints out of the control arms until a week from now.