what's a press, which to buy

Dumb newbie question here - what exactly is a press and what all is it used for? I gather it's kind of like a clamp, and that you need one (or at least life is better if you have one) for replacing tie rods (pressing out the ball joint), for mounting the bushing in a shock if the company you buy from doesn't pre-mount them, and maybe for other things.

What's a decent quality, not-too-expensive one to buy? What size etc? I'm planning to do my first lift this winter/spring and to do new shocks, steering stabilizers, tie rods and anything else that looks like it needs changing. Does anybody think I can get by without one? If I get one, what else is it good for?

Oh, yeah, how about a link to a picture? I've searched a couple tool sites and gotten lots of hits on the term "press" but I'm not sure which are the ones I'm talking about here.

"Press", like a shop press? Picture a "A" frame with a hydraulic bottle jack upside down mounted on top so when you jack it the cylinder moves downward to "press" something. It will have a table to place the item being pressed on.

If you are looking for something to use during lift install, wait until you start the install. You can rent a ball joint press (looks like a big C clamp) from Autozone, Advanced, or another type of commercial auto parts retailer. These normally rent for a deposit only that you get in return when the tool is brought back. I think I had to deposit $75 at Autozone but got all back when I returned the tool.
This is what you want for balljoint installs. If you have bearings that need replaced it is much cheaper to take it someplace and have them pressed out. Maybe a local machine shop can do this for you, maybe even for free???

Thanks, mark, that helps make sense of some of what I've been reading and gave me key words to search on - ball joint press. I've seen shop presses described too and that's part of what had me confused. Here's a pic from JC Whitney in case anybody else wonders:

http://www.jcwhitney.com/webapp/wcs...d=869&catalogId=10101&langId=-1&storeId=10101

And, as usual, one dumb question answered leads to 5 more - which one is the 4wd press? What difference does it make? Is it anything more than just a real heavy duty C-clamp, and could I buy a monster C-clamp that would do just as well for less money? Anybody know about how much clearance there is between the clamp faces and the diameter of the screw piece? Now, just for replacing tie rods borrowing one from AZ makes sense, but I'm also trying to build my tools and at $100 or less these aren't too terribly expensive. Would there be other ways it would come in handy or should I just rent one on the rare occasions I need one? Don't you need something like this for replacing u-joints?

I think you're looking for one of these:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/Displayitem.taf?itemnumber=4065

I got this on sale for, I think, $40. It works well for its intended purpose, and in a pinch I've used it to press out wheel studs as well.

Get the one dmillion linked to from Harbor Freight. You can't buy "just" a heavy duty c-clamp. First, I don't think you'll find one heavy enough, and second you need the adapters and tubes to do the ball joint work.