Sometimes they come out super-easy, sometimes not. For me, a pry bar made short work of one of them, but the other one was destroyed in the accident and really did not want to come out. Had to really work at it, even with a pry bar.
Putting the new ones in is best done with a helper, too, in my opinion. I had to give them a lot of pressure to get them to "pop in" and needed my wife to brace the frame (engine was mounted and frame was up on jack stands). Don't use a hammer ... at least, that's what I read somewhere.