I know the drill. There are instances where my time is worth more than my money. I have found ball joints and other front end work to be one of those instances. By the time you rent the special tools (requires at least two trips to get what you need, and usually several more for the tools you forgot or didn't realize you needed) or buy the specialty tools, and fight with the damn things, I just go to this guy who does superior front end work and especially alignments, (which I have to take to him anyway) and pay him to do it. By the time you total up both scenarios, I have found (for me anyway) that it's been way more cost effective to let Gary do that part while I devote my time and other resources to doing other stuff that needs to be done on the car/truck. Besides, from where I live, it's a pretty far piece to get to any kind of real auto parts store.