Pontiac Repair: 98 grand prix ball joint replacement, crown vic, stupid ball

Question
Hi!  I started the replacement of the passenger side ball joint on my 98 grand prix with the 3.1 and soon realized it is set up different than the one on my old crown vic.  I have the castle nut off the ball stud and the 3 nuts off the bolts through the control arm but then i started taking out those 3 bolts and began thinking that it looks like there's some pressure from the spring and if I remove the ball joint from it's current position things may shift around and I won't be able to easily get them back.  Am I looking at it wrong and this won't be a problem, or will if be if I don't do it right? and if that's the case, how do I do it right?  basically, what's the proper sequence of steps to take to correctly replace that stupid ball joint?  THANKS VERY MUCH!!!!!!

Answer
Hi Andy:

Well your almost there. from the sounds of it the ball joint was already replaced. the factory ones are riveted into the arm so being that it's bolted it means it was replaced once. You already have the car jacked up and the whell off and the nut off the joint the pressure is on top of the joint pressing the knuckle down onto the joint so you need a helper and a long bar. once the nut is off you need to jar the lower part of the knuckle with a large hammer that will loosen the stud up in the knickle. Be carefule not to hit the CV joint or the abs wiring. While you kit it have a helper pry down on the lower control arm. use the bar under the engine cradel and on top of the control arm. It will them pop off then while the arm is being pryed down you can lift the knuckle off the stud and mode it off to the side enough to remove the ball joint out od the control arm. just reverse the procedure to put the knuckle back onto the stud. WATCH out that you don not pich your fingers between the control arm and knuckle. good luck :}