understood! thats why i love the way GM done the gmt-900s now! knock a ring off the lower balljoint hit it out, press in a new one and put the snap ring on it, change the whole upper control arm

 

I got one side out! The other is a genuine pain...

I used a piece of blackpipe that has a hole just larger than the rivet head. I put the pipe into a heavy vice to hold it up. I then used a piece of round stock from the trash as a punch and drove the rivets out on the hydraulic press while the pipe supported the arm so as to press mostly against the rivet bosses on the balljoint. Tried the same process on the other lca and no such luck. I'll keep you guys posted...........

 

Wow! Has it really been a week since I gave you guys an update? I finally had to take the remainiing LCA to a frame shop to get the joint removed. In the process, they nearly trashed one of the rivet holes in the arm. That was Friday. Saturday I went to my local welding supply and bought a Lincoln 140, gas and the necessary stuff to begin welding. I'd been wanting to do this for a couple years, and finally pulled the trigger. I was able to repair the hole and, using the old joint, got the hole back in shape and in good position to mount the new joint. Once the two balljoints were mounted as per the Mcgaughy's instructions, I pressed in the new Energy suspension LCA bushings and now they're awaiting installation into the truck. Just FWIW, neither MOOG nor GM offer a service part for this lower arm. All they offer is the 4wd arm bushing which is smaller and won't work. That's why I went with Energy from Summit. And Summit did a kicka$$ job of getting them to me as well. Ordered Thursday, rec'd Friday, from northeast Ohio to southwest Ohio, standard shipping, in 24 hours!

Thanks everyone for your help and comments thru this. I appreciate it very much.