Need advice--replacing pitman and idler arms

[CQHixi]

Hey gents, I think I have this figured out via the web, but I wondered if anyone had any experience replacing pretty much the entire front end all at once?
I went for an alignment, never done before and almost 170K miles--told I needed a new pitman arm, a new idler arm, and new inner tie rods. Figured I could be being taken for a ride, but then I thought, it can't be THAT hard to fix all that, right?
So I bought some parts, and found a deal where I got everything, including ball Joints and sway bar links for around $150 (military discount, good guy frequent buyer, etc). I'll probably swing for the Autozone sway bar bushings....I know, I'm cheap.
ANYHOW--From what I've heard/found on the internet, it seems that pulling the pitman arm and idler arms requires some removal of the steering gear/idler assembly they are attached to from the truck's frame, mostly because the pullers can't reach into the space there because of some bar that's in the way. Looks to me like that bar is the sway bar. So if it comes off anyhow, doesn't that eliminate the 'no space to pull the arms' problem? Seems easier to pull the sway bar and replace the bushings/bar ends after pulling and replacing the pitman/idler arms, instead of taking the idler assembly and steering control off of the frame in order to get the puller in a good position for the arm removal.
Am I off base here? Please let me know if anyone has experience here before I start hacking at this Monday!
Thanks in advance,
Spooner

 

[Aaron_L]

The crossmember is in the way as well. I pulled the bolts out, but didn't remove the steering box, and let hang down a little so I could get the puller in there. It came off pretty easily, but rust isn't really an issue where I live, so your results may vary. For the idler arm, I too was rebuilding the whole front end, so I just dropped the whole idler/bracket assembly out and replaced the whole thing. It's only held on by two bolts, and it was pretty sloppy anyways.