2010 V70 How to replace front struts

[pierremcalpine]

Hi,
I'm about to undertake a DIY front strut replacement and have got VIDA to help guide me along. I've got two questions though that I'm hoping someone can shed some light on who has done this job already:

1) Apparently, the front spindle needs to be removed from the ball joint to make room for the downward removal of the strut itself. This is because this strut design does not have the usual two fastening bolts affixed to the strut itself. Instead the strut is inserted vertically from above into the spindle body and the spindle itself fastens around the base of the strut. Seems to me that this can still be done without needing to remove the balljoint from the spindle...can anyone confirm or deny this?

2) Assuming the above IS correct (balljoint does need to come out) VIDA suggests the use of a "special tool" to pop out the ball joint out from above. I don't have this odd looking tool but I do have one of these:
http://www.harborfreight.com/3-4-quarte ... 99849.html
Can anyone confirm that this will do the trick?

[pierremcalpine]

Update: removal of the shocks is possible without removing the ballpoint but there is VERY limited clearance to actually pull the bottom of the struts out of the hub. As it was I had to bang away at the top of the hub body with a sledge while jumping on a pry bar to get them out. For anyone looking to do this a) get the tool and remove the ballpoint or b) take the two inner control arm bolts right out to get more clearance.