2001 Ford Explorer Ball Joints

2001 explorer sport 131,000 miles. Brought veh in to local repair shop for brakes- referred to place by co-workers. Repair guy told me I need upper/lower ball joints and brakes- total $1800. Friend offered to do work for half the price (friend has a lot of experience working on /building cars). I had noticed the front end seemed loose, like it wasn't responding well when steering, seemed to pull. My friend checked ball joints while replacing brakes and thought they were fine-wheels seemed stable. Noticed sway bar link arms were both broken/missing. We replaced both of them. Veh drives MUCH better- I do not notice any pulling- no noise (other than brake pad rubbing as I need to replace caliper). We did not replace ball joints. Coworker spoke to original repair place and they are saying you can not check ball joints on this veh using jack stands as this veh has pressure suspension you have to use a hoist. They also say my ball joints were so bad that my tires will fall off at any point. My friend who worked on veh disagrees and states he has never heard of pressure suspension. Repair shop saying once I have veh on hoist there is no way I will miss it. Is it true that we could be missing something this severe by using jack stands, or even at all at this point? Has anyone ever heard of this before? I don't think I am showing any signs of bad ball joints anymore but as they claim my tire is about to snap at any moment, I'm concerned and looking for another opinion. Oh, I had new tires put on veh one year ago and they are showing even wear. Thank you!