I wanted to remove the upper ball joints as I was going to install the All-Pro 1 inch uniball upper control arms.   Before I tried to take the upper ball joint out of the new Tuff Country spindle, I decided to practice on a few of the factory ones to see just how hard it would be.   I used two spindles that had come off my truck when I did the Tuff Country lift.   They were about 3 years old at this point, so I figure that the new Tuff Country ones that are only 3-4 months old will come out easier.   

This is how I removed the upper ball joints on my truck.   This is a method that is for ball joints that you are going to throw away!   You are going to damage them during the removal!
The first step is to remove the dust boot.   It is held on by a small piece of wire that you can either untwist or cut.
Once the wire is cut, you can slip the dust boot off.
Once the boot is off, I wiped off the excess grease.
There is a snap ring that also keeps the ball joint from slipping down and out of the spindle.   It remove it, I pressed it back then got a screwdriver behind it and snapped it off.   

I found that a 7/8 deep socket fits nicely over the ball joint.

Make sure that it is a Craftsman socket.   You may hurt it during the process and need it replaced! :)

With the socket on the ball joint, I hammered it out.   I could see that it was moving after just a few hits.   It was actually way easier than I thought it was going to be to pound it out.

I live in Northern California.  I think that if you lived in an area where they salted the roads and such that it may be much harder to remove.  

I have been told to use LOTS of anti seize when I put in the new ball joint.   

 

The small ring slips off, I did that before I pounded on it with the socket.   

You can now throw away the old ball joint and install the new one.
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7-21-2004