2011 upper balljoints, replace or not ?

My son actually owns the 2011 tacoma 4x4.
He had new tires put on a day ago and they did not do as alignment based on their belief the upper balljoints need replaced.
At 180k miles I could imagine they would need replaced and there is movement in them, not horrible but movement non the less.
My question is being there are no bolts holding the balljoints in and I'm unable to find any video to help, can the balljoints be replaced without buying the entire upper control arm assembly or is it practice to replace the entire control arm ?

I see balljoints for sale but control arm assemblies as well.
What's the best way and if you have any video of the balljoints being replaced in a 2011 that would be awesome.
Thanks guys.

 

Is it cheaper to replace the lower control arm and upper control arm , than to do the labor and parts associated with pressing ball joints in?
Thanks

 

I just went through this.
I asked the alignment ship to show me, no problem. Yup, bad ball joint.
If you've got to do one, do both. The hardest parts were holding everything together to get it started, and finding a socket big enough to push against when putting it back together. I used a 2 1/2" punch cup to on top when removing the old The end of the stud was pretty much flush with what I should have been pushing on.

 

Thanks guys we decided to do control arms being we get new bushings and balljoints.

I just think it makes sense.

Take care and thanks for chiming in.

 

I agree when time comes for me, I will do the same.
Thanks

 

It pisses me off for what it takes to remove that bolt...