Man, what a day...yesterday.
The lower control arms came off no prob, though the bushing that is closer to the rear of the car is in a very tight spot. A 19mm ratcheting wrench would make the job a lot easier, though two short extensions and a swivel 19mm socket worked nearly as well.
We had some trouble with the ball joints. We ended up buying two new ball joints locally (MasterPro) that came with grease fittings. A local chain tire shop pressed them in for us for $45, as we had difficulty with the autozone loaner kit since the kit lacked the proper extensions. Upon reassembly, the grease fitting on the MasterPro ball joint was interfering with the outer cv joint; the grease fitting kept hitting the outer cv joint so I was unable to reinsert the axle into the knuckle. Note: the original ball joint did not have a grease fitting.
Since it was late, we decided to remove the grease fitting and seal off the hole on the ball joint with some plumber's putty. No, this definitely was not my proudest moment - but my buddy was fine with it and it got the job done. Of course, prior to this, my buddy thought it was a good idea to use a dremel to grind off a bit of the grease fitting - but after an hr of doing this and getting nowhere, we decided to just seal off the hole.
Also, as it turned out, the tie rod ends and lower ball joints were completely ripped open. The joints also had a bit more play than I recalled. So, it was a good thing that they were replaced.
In addition, during disassembly, I found the sway bar end links to be completely torn. So, I obtained some overpriced Chinesium ones from Autozone and installed them. The r/f outer CV boot must have had a slight tear somewhere, since after removing/installing it into the steering knuckle, it started to leak a ton of grease. Lastly, the studs on the R/F hub were a bit chipped (possibly from transport to the shop, or from the many times it was man-handled to grind off the grease fitting from the ball joint), so reinstalling the lug nuts at the end of the night was quite sketchy.
Anyway, at the end of the night, the test drive confirmed that the front-end overhaul had solved all of the noise problems. The car actually drove great with no more pull, wandering or clunking. Unfortunately, I also noticed that the brake pedal was very low and the e-brake to be non-existant.
Clearly, there was a lot more work that needs to be done to this car. My understanding is that the car went to the local shop this morning and received new lug studs, right/front cv axle, new rear shoes, rear drums and new drive belts. Tires and alignment are on-hold until more funds arrive, supposedly.
