Rather than dealing with "pop the ball joints", remove the (2) allen
head cap screws from the upper ball joint. And yes, this is not the
description of a shock problem.  I replaced my springs using the
Bilstein jack and one jack stand. 8 mm allen wrench and a pry bar.  13
and 19 mm end wrenches to get the shock out of the way. Oh yeah,
you'll want to disconnect the sway bar to allow the lower control arm
a bit more droop.  A hydraulic bottle jack to push it all back into
place.  Couple hours max.

Jim

On Dec 26, 2010, at 2:03 PM, Evan Mac Donald wrote:

> And there is good news - the springs can be removed and replaced
> without a
> compressor. Get the van up on good stands - not ramps - and just pop
> the ball
> joints, and let the lower A-arm down SLOWLY. The shock must be
> removed first,
> but that part you need to do anyway...          ;-P