Control Arms

The help I'm looking for is can they be replaced without special tools?
I've got a 97 Mark VIII with 143K miles, during an oil change they told me the oil pan was leaking but don't worry about that (ask them look for the leak) that the control arms are severly worn, so bad the ball joint could fall out.

You'll only need some ratchet extensions and some wobblies. That should cover it.

Thats good news, now all I need is the time and $

If your ball joints are that bad you should be very careful. If you have a failure you not only can loose control of the car , but could also inflict severe damage to you car as well as anything else that is near you.
Typically it is the upper control arms that go first.
If you are going to replace them or if you are going to have them done be sure to get TRW or Moog brand, there is a lot of junk out there that will fail prematurely.
Do a search and you should find all the info you need to replace them. The lowers should be changed along with the strut rod bushings and the stabilizer link. All totalled you will have a couple hunred in parts, but when you are done it should feel like a new car ride.

Thanks Roadboss,
But when you said a couple hundred bucks did you mean per side? Because the research I've done it's looking like $200+ for upper and lower control arms. Any recommendations while I'm under there like how to change the oilpan gasket?

There is no easy way to replace the pan gasket. You have to support the engine from the top and drop the cross member. I believe there should be some paticulars if you do a search.