Well, i got the drivers side front strut insert and thrust arm done this afternoon. I guess I'll drive the truck tomorrow and try to finish up the car in the next few days.

A couple of observations for those who are considering this:

1. a generic Pitman arm puller will work to pop the balljoints free for the thrust arms.

2. to preload the suspension to tighten the bolt through the bushing, you can jack the car up until it comes off the jackstand to simulate load.

other than that, nothing really unexpected. I've done struts on a couple of different cars, and control arms on several trucks, so that probably helped.

Hopefully the other side will go okay.

BTW, the shock was completely blown at 93K miles

Well, I got back around to the car this weekend. went fine.

One observation:
1. On the passenger side, there is a shielding piece that prevents you from getting the socket on the thrust arm mounting bolt. To access the bolt, loosen the shielding by loosening its mounting bolts, both of which are accessible through the engine bay.

car feels great, btw :D

next stop, wheels and tires