I had no room for a slide hammer. I first grinded down an old screw driver to razor sharp and tried to chisel, it only bent it open-but enough to get some penetrating oil in. Then I used a breaker bar with a 8 foot galvanized pipe-wedged it between the re-attached control arm and lifted-still did'nt come easy put popped out. Did drivers side first (someone should say-you need to drop the front bumper and loosen the air vent to get the the bolt out and I needed the room to get my torque wrench in). I was hoping the pass. side would be eaier-but it was harder, I felt too much stress when lifting the par bar so I again chisled a little to get some pen. oil under and inbetween. WORSE part- I still have my shimmy when braking. I first thought warped front rotors, changed them, now I will try changing the rear rotors.
ORDER new screws for the ball joint, they are easy to mess up. My ball joints came with new screws, but they were not the same.....

read someone say it took them an hour and half?? It took me about 8 hours with a lunch brake and dog walk included. I took off the wheels rotors and dust sheild, you could probably do it with the wheel on, but at first try I got a "slip" on the ball joint bolt and wanted a good grip and look.





The BMW special tool is actually similar to slide hammer. I don't think you want to spend that money on this tool (a couple hundreds). Now, here is the tip you need. Cost of this solution could be $0 if you can rent them from local autozone. If you want to own the tools, get them from place like harborfreight for cheap. 2 things you need - slide hammer(like http://www.tooldesk.com/images/close...TD-3045_lg.jpg 3lbs one is good enough) and tied rod/pitman arm puller(like http://4x4icon.com/offroad/063007_st...2645_small.jpg).

Put the pitman arm puller as the attachment on your slide hammer. Leave thrust arm on the ball joint but remove 2 bolts holding ball joint to the steering knuckle. The just use the pitman arm puller on your slide hammer to hold between thrust arm and ball joint. Give it about 2 strikes and ball joint should come off. If the ball joint is heavily rusted, spray something like WD40 or PB Blaster and give it a few strikes. Leave it there to let the fluid penetrate thru. Give it a try after a couple minutes and it should do the trick.

Here is another tip. Make sure you get the alignment done after replacing the arm.[/QUOTE]