trying to replace the control arms on my 2004 A6. i got the curved lower arm off find but the straight lower gave me all kinds of issues getting the ball join separated. all kinds of hammering had no effect. so i rented something from autozone i could push on the ball joint bolt with and i seem to have created more issues now...

from what i can tell some press fitting seems to have come up along with the tapered ball joint end. so now the LCA is pushed up but its hitting hte back of hte knuckle so theres no clearance to get it out and i can no longer pull it back down (i destroyed the threads on the ball join bolt).

here are the pics of what i'm working with






the LCA isn't making contact with the axle at all, you can't really tell from the picture but its hung up on the back of the knuckle and i can't push it up any further. any ideas? do i need a whole new knuckle now?? What is this fitting in there, i thought was just ball joint and knuckle?