Glad you're making progress. I don't think I could handle that kind of heat. It's bad enough when it gets up in the '70's here.
I tried using my ball joint press like the one you rented and got one stubborn king pin to move, only to find out the end of the puller was stuck inside the bushing. Had a heck of a time getting it out, but finally did. The press is just barely deep enough to fit over the spindle, so I couldn't add a smaller diameter stub to push on the king pin. The other side came out pretty easily, so I ground it down so it was a fair amount smaller diameter and had myself a punch to drive that stubborn one the rest of the way out using a trusty BFH.
I had the whole axle out of the truck, which made it easier to work on.
