Upper and lower ball joint failure help,

555's are fine, it's what I run. I have a soapbox on my build thread if you care. I think it's post#9 or something.

As for the bolts, I got mine from Ace Hardware. Grade 10.9, flange bolts, perfect match.

You don't need a tool to press the BJ back in, just tighten the castle nut to spec, and then got a bit tighter if you need to get the cotter pin to line up. do NOT loosen!

As I said in the post above, the pitman arm too works great to remove the lower BJ and the tie rod, and for the upper, after loosening the castle nut either hit it with a hammer or use a 3 arm puller to pop the UCA apart. Since it's obviously already separated, just take it over to a vice. Same with the spindle, actually. Nice thing about the pre-runner is yo can't have to disconnect the CV/hub to remove the spindle. Having the spindle in a vice makes it easier.

Definitely torque all teh bolts to spec. The 4 bolts on the LBJ are (iirc) 59 ft lbs, which for me was deceptively low. And use thread locker.

 

Also having issues getting the tire off the wheel assembly-

The only thing holding the wheel assembly to the truck right now is the tie rod and brake line so there's not enough mechanic connection to create enough resistance to pull it off without possibly damaging the tie rod. I've tried hitting all round with a hammer to get it to unseize, using brake cleaner, is the next step getting a pry bar on it? Any other tricks without messing up the brake line/tierod?

Haven't started the job yet, was just trying to get what prep done I could while waiting for parts.