Is there an affordable lower ball joint separator tool for a 2007 XC70?

[AylmerQc]

I had released the knuckle at the strut and all that was holding it to the car was the ball joint, which didn't loosen up at the knuckle or control arm...
This is a 15-year-old car with 300km+ on the odometer so it's possible the ball joints were previously replaced.
Whether it's original or a replacement, is there any reason a bit of grease or no-seize isn't used on suspension and steering components...

[br0dy519]

I've read reports that using anti seize on the balljoint splines can cause hydrolock and prevent it from seating flush with the knuckle. Antiseizer should be fine on the splined end of the axle for the wheel bearing though. Use sparingly.

[erikv11]

I had released the knuckle at the strut and all that was holding it to the car was the ball joint, which didn't loosen up at the knuckle or control arm...

Highlighting the axle-to-hub-fusion as the real problem. Consider the control arm bolts were another place holding it to the car. When the ball joint said "no" then as an alternative you could have removed the control arm (CA) mounts to the subframe and dropped the whole CA, but you probably know that. And I can see that appears pretty cumbersome, to pull the axle and take the whole thing together (axle/knuckle/CA) to the bench. Where it would have broken anyway, in hindsight ...