I've never needed more than a stout block of wood and a heavy mallet.....
Good for you Typhoon90. Perhaps you're better at this than I am.
I got most of mine loose with exactly that - a stout block of wood and a heavy mallet. But I have two that aren't so cooperative. That's why I bought the splitter. I had three left to do at the time I bought the splitter.... It did one of the three easily. Not so with the other two. I know that they'll come out eventually... but after 40 years in one place they seem to have gotten set in their ways.
I bought the splitter tool shown in Papajam's thread... $19 at Harbor Freight. Today, after the wife leaves the house

, I pull out the torch and I think the combination of the splitter and the torch will do it.
The splitter has a "finger" that sits on top of the threaded end of the tie rod end, and then a "split finger" that goes under underneath the tie rod. The finger pushes down and then "pop goes the tie rod end!" except when it doesn't.
Rmm-
I went to a local self-owned mechanic - "Bea's Automotive" where the owner Roberto really seems to love old cars (I think Bea is his wife, but I don't know). I never thought about a machine shop, perhaps because my limited experience with them is that they're pretty expensive and I don't think that level of expertise is necessary....if a mechanic has the right tools, it shouldn't be too hard for someone with experience. Roberto didn't blink when I pulled my a-arms and a box of bushings and wheel studs out of the trunk.
On the sockets and wrenches, everything seems to run 17, 19, 22, 24, and I think I ran across a 26 at one point.
Oh, the other tool that I found useful was a plumber's pipe wrench: I found it to be the best thing for removing tie rod ends from the tie rods. It was much easier than putting the tie rod in a vice, which was how I started out.
As for the press, yeah, I know that I'll be back under there and I'll want that press, but unfortunately, my wife has learned to recognize IAP, Centerline, and Vick's as Hubby Hobby expenses on the credit card bill, and I'm a little over the tolerance limit right now

.... even after I bought the Centerline suspension kit, I've been back this month for a couple of $200 nibbles for spring rubbers, etc. However having a "real mechanic" do some things "because it's safer than if I do it"

, well - that gets me a little more cash than "another Harbor Freight charge!!!
And:
I've decided that while I'm in the front fenders, I'm going to buy one of Daniel Stern's Cibie lighting kits...

I'd rather have that than a press right now. I'm practicing the "look how much safer I'll be in the dark now, honey" line in front of the mirror... still needs practice.
Note:
I'm a pilgrim at all this... and everything I've learned has been on this board. There are lots of kind people who can give you much better advice than I can, so whenever there's a difference listen to them rather than me and save yourself some trouble
