Some things I did that might help somebody. Ball joint would not budge, so cut it off just below the grease rubber, used a small grinder with a thin cutting wheel. The knuckle came off then, and was able to get a stout piece of steel to hammer out the ball joint from the top without removing axle. Also, the cut off lower stud with the threads on it hammered out nicely. I have the 99, with the c-clip set up, so getting the axle out was not a good option. To get the new ball joint in, my son said, "can't we jack it in?" So he got a scissor jack from an f150, and used a big socket and some flat washers as spacers, put pressure up on it, and pounded down on the A frame. Came out in under two minutes. One more thing. The knuckle went out of the way enough when I just pulled those ABS wire clips out of the frame. No need to disconnect the wires. Just remember to put them back in. When we tried to get the knuckle back on with the axle in place, it would not clear the threaded stud of the new ball joint. We took the grease zerk out to give us another quarter inch or so, but still not enough. We ground about an eighth inch from the ball joint stud, and it went back together. Just remember to keep the nut threaded on the stud, so when the nut comes off, it can clean out the threads you are likely to deform with the grinding. And replace the grease zerk. Not very elegant, but beats pulling the axle, especially on the 98-2000 with the pulse hubs.