It's not hard. First I gotta say be VERY careful when jacking the vehicle. If it comes off the stands, you need to lower it back onto them right then. You'll need to use the jack to lift the lower control arm from time to time.
Bust loose the lug nuts and that big 36mm nut in the very middle. You'll have to pull the 12 point retainer off of it. If you have a 2 wheel drive, skip the middle nut.
Never mind all that jazz in the Haynes book about changing the lower control arm or taking the torsion bar loose. The torsion bar will loosen on its own once you take the weight off of it, and it'll tighten back up when you put weight back on it. Matter of fact, the only thing you really need the Haynes book for is the torque specs.
Now jack it up on stands, grab the wheel offa there and pull the whole brake caliper off, mounts, shoes, and all. Tie it to the frame somewhere with a wire coat hanger. On a 4x4, abuse the disc a little with a hammer and a wood block until it falls off. If you don't, it may fall off on its own at a bad time. You gotta pull three tiny bolts from the splash shield and then that comes off.
I suppose you could skip all that and just tie the whole steering knuckle to the frame with that coat hanger. Anyway, once you pop the upper ballstud from the steering knuckle, the whole thing separates right into your lap. You have full access to the upper control arm and to the lower ball joint. The CV axle will back out of the hub, giving you full access to the three bolts that hold the hub on without smashing a wrench in there like I did.
Oh, don't forget to pull the ABS wiring from the hub, too. Once all that's out, pull the snap ring from the lower ball joint, grind off the spot weld (if there is one), and set up the press. It takes some strength to pop the ball joint out. I'm a pretty big guy (6ft and 215 pounds) and I still had to two wrench it. The new one presses in the opposite way, then you put on a new snap ring and grease fitting.
Now's a good time to replace the brake pads, discs, and the upper ball joint. If you need a hub, this is a good time to install that also. The pads and hub are straightforward, but you'll need to spray a spot on the washers where the upper control arm is connected to the frame. You have to abuse the upper control arms a bit to get them in and out. Use a claw hammer if necessary. It took me two 21mm sockets, an 18 inch breaker bar and a cheap torque wrench to get the bolts tightened back down.
My mechanic says this is a very difficult job. I think it's very easy myself. The only thing is that you can spend a TON on parts because the opportunity is there to do so much in one sitting. Plan a Saturday for this. My advice is to have all the parts and tools on hand a few days before.
It really isn't as hard as you might think. I did the passenger side over a period of two days and will do the driver's side Saturday. I'm doing all four ball joints and the upper control arms, then I'll probably do both stabilizer links.
BTW, I'm in Oklahoma City. I used to live in HR, and I would not want to be running back and forth for parts or tools in ya'll's traffic.
