completely rebuild front suspension?

Well I've been looking at different options to get the ball joints and tie rods loose but it looks like the only way of not spending money is to just break out the old pickle fork and start banging or whacking LOL. The lower ball joint on the spindle is so covered in muck that I'm not quite sure where to start LOL or exactly how I want to tackle that one? I know I removed the upper ball joint on the driver side and replaced it a couple years ago and I think I remember using just a big giant set of channel locks or something? Since I don't have the tool or a big set of channel locks idea is to take the upper a arm off and put the ball joint in the vice and twist the arm off of it? Until I check in next I should be wacking on my ball joints:D! LOL