Whats involved in removing front struts?

[King Triton]

I was told Via PM by someone but i can not remeber who and i can't check becuase we don't have any of our PM's anymore. I think it was GLX-R silver who helped me out with the PM before but not sure so if you know who you are could you send me another PM.
Any way i have been lookng at the workshop manual (thanks henk bos) and it says you need to remove the upper suspension arm (all good) but it shows the use a special tool to remove the ball joint (a bit out of my league)
What i want to know is
is it necassary to remove ball joint?
Do you really need the special tool?
Can i get around it any other way?

[GLX-RSilver]

Hey there King yes it was me who pm you how to remove the struts.
Firstly you need to jack up the car and place on jack stands.
Then you need to place the jack under the lower wishbone and jack up to relief tension on upper control arm against bump stop.
Then you un-do the ball joint bolts and upper wishbone bolts and remove the upper control.
Then you un-do the 3 bolts holding the strut to the chassis and disconnect the brake line from the lower part of the strut.
Then you lower the jack from under the lower wishbone.
Then you undo the lower strut bolt and you should be able to remove the strut.
Once out you will need a spring compressor before you undo the single bolt holding the strut and coil spring together.
Good luck Mate
Cheers