Ball joints - Upper control arm stuck to knuckle ?

[lostranger2026]

My lower ball joint is shot on a '99 4WD ranger and there's a good chance it was original. My aim is to check all the control points and replace where necessary. My sway bar links left and right are both broken, not sure what happened there. I just learned what sway bar links do in the first place and they were kaput when I bought the car. Now I never worked on suspensions before, however I'm trying to learn. I got the car suspended on the frame with blocks. The brake caliper is off, the lower ball joint nut is loose and just on there with a few threads, the lower control arm is suspended/held in place with both a jack stand and a floor jack. The bolt on the upper control arm is out.
Well at this point in most video's the entire knuckle comes loose from the upper control arm and can be swung to the side.
Not here. Stuck as heck. No movement. Tried some WD40, tried a large pry bar to gently persuade the control arm to go up, tried tapping it with a hammer upwards, nothing. Maybe I need to be less gentle, but I figured i'd ask first if I'm making any basic mistakes here.

See pictures attached, this should just 'come off', correct?

 

[Uncle Gump]

Need more hammer...

Tried a pickle fork?

 

[lostranger2026]

Need more hammer...

Tried a pickle fork?

No, not part of the collection yet. I might have to get myself one.

 

[Uncle Gump]

The taper of the ball joint stud and hole in knuckle create a really tight swedge fit. Typically a good solid smack of a bamiffy shocks them apart. It's sometimes even necessary to smack the knuckle when using the pickle fork .

 

[lostranger2026]

The taper of the ball joint stud and hole in knuckle create a really tight swedge fit. Typically a good solid smack of a bamiffy shocks them apart. It's sometimes even necessary to smack the knuckle when using the pickle fork .

Well I've been hammering like crazy and using a really big bar to try and push it up from the frame. It's coming, but it's super slow. Maybe got a 1/4" up so far, but it's still not loose. As far as I can see I don't have any more tension on it, so it's strange that it's that tight. Makes me wonder if putting them on is gonna be any harder. Right now I got it soaking in penetrating oil and as you can see I don't have a lot of rust to deal with in the first place.