Hey Van, I saw you said the alljeep spicer ball joints died on you in a few months, and you are using synergy ball joints now. I didnt realize that synergy made WJ ball joints, is it like night and day for reliability ? I just did the Wj swap with those exact Wj spicer ball joints , i guess ill see how long they last.
for getting the ball joints off, I just clean all the crud off, light taps with a BFH, and tons of penetrating oil just for the hell of it. then I use the jeep specific ball joint adapter set with a AZ rental press, and use a 4 ft pipe on the end of a wrench to tighten/loosen the press, and it goes real quick, never have to do heat. so sledge hammer, just a massive cheater bar, saves my back and always seems to work.
I also give some love taps with the BFH around the C where the ball joint goes into while Im cranking on it, to help loosen things up. The jeep specific adapters make life much easier . night and day for me.