BTW - I ended up doing the removal just how I have it pictured pushing down on the shaft. It required near perfect alignment of the tools, but it came out and there wasn't even any POP. It just came loose.
INSTALLATION SUCCESS !!!!!! Below are some pictures of installation and post-installation stuff. A very important thing to note since I know many of you get the same ball joints and rent from AutoZone as well is that using the method I did in the pictures below for installation It left a few millimeters of space between the rim of the ball joint and the control arm mount hole underneath. To make sure I was't seeing a shadow or anything I stuck a Stanley needle picker in there. The BJ was flush on one side, but off on the other and this was because I'd reached my press limit with the tool. The top bolt of the ball joint ended up touching the base of the huge screw plunger thingy so this meant all I was doing was going no where. Still with about 5 - 7mm left to close in on I remembered ya'll suggesting using a big socket earlier, but in a different way than I was trying to do here. Shown in the photos below you'll see the socket is "big open end for bolts" on the downside. This allowed for the ball joint bolt to go upwards just a few hairs more in order for me to make the ball joint rim flush with the lower control arm underneath.
Comparison of Old vs New - Despite the dust cover being open and broken I really found both ball joints to have nearly the same break away resistance. I just used my hands though, so I dunno. It sure is tempting to just clean the damn thing up with some spray oil and put it back in with new covers and lube.
Ball joint installation - The winning combination of tools. Using the C-clamp going upwards listing the parts in between it we have the bottom platter with an end that fits well into the bottom of the c-clamp, ball joint base, control arm, medium sized dual open ended cup or pipe thingy, platter which fits the bj bolt pretty well, and then the savior 3/4" or 15mm socket which allows for the bolt to come up just a tad more to mount the bj flush with the arm bottom. Once you can't turn it anymore, give it one good half or full turn and you are done. Inspect below the arm to see that the ball joint lip is flush with the arm hole mount point. Suggest having an extra hydraulic jack to hold the hub/knuckle to the side (rear) of the arm and 2 qty small length 4x4's would be a HUGE help as well to rest the arm on eliminating you having to fight the play in the arm while doing this. Believe me, your back will thank you.
Another view.
