1996 silverado and ball joints

[stryped]

My 1996 silverado 4x4 has 356,000 highway miles. It has never been off road. I took it to get an alignment and was told by Midas that the ball joints were bad. The quoted me 900 bucks to replace this and the pitman and idler arm under the truck.

 

I have done all the work over the years on this truck myself. However, have never messed with ball joints. I have a Haynes manual. It said to remove the pall joint on a 4x4 you have to remove the drive axles. Is this true? Is there not an easier way to do this? What about replacing the entire control arm?

 

I have not got a good look at it yet but am asking some questions to try to understand how much is involved in replace the front end components. Obviously, with this many miles I dont want to spend any more than I have to.

 

I appreciate the help!