I attempted to tackle two ujoint repalcements yesterday afternoon. Ive only ever used a press before but this time I went the hammer/socket route. Good lord. What should have taken an hour has taken me 6 and I am not even done. I started with the passenger and got one cap off, flipped it over to pound the other one back thru and it kept catching the ears of the shaft and shaving it, even though it was straight thru the ears and not crooked. I called jjvw to come help and even he struggled with it. We finally got it out by taking a flap disc to the cap, and a cutting disc to the cross on the opposite side. The new joint went in easily (albeit, still some big whacks with a hammer). Moved on to the driver side and it too is doing the same. We got two caps off (one broke completely), but now the two opposite sides are not budging. Heat, vise, a hammer, a bigger F'n hammer, nothing. Luckily I had a spare to put in and drive to work today. My next step is to place in into a press and see what happens.
On another note--jjvw let me drive his TJ yesterday. All I can say is I made the wrong shock choice on my jeep (Bilstiens). He has rancho's up front and tuned foxes in the rear. What would jolt me in my seat I couldnt feel in his. Easily glide over speed bumps whereas I get tossed from my seat. I noticed more body roll with his mid-arm setup, but it was a very controlled roll, nothing I would even remotely consider dangerous or scary. And finally, the 03+ seats sit much lower than my 97.