Used my "third arm"
Actually by that point I had my brother hold tension on the prybar while I operated the punch and hammer. After spending simply a minute with 2 prybars back to back pushing the joint apart I figured it wasn't coming apart easy enough that way and quickly moved to the plan B with a helping hand as the shop was 20 minutes from closing and I was ready to clean up and get out of there anyways.
Figures... last week I developed an annoying clunking in the front over bumps and uneven surfaces, pulled it in the shop and found it to be the sway bar links. This weekend go to swap them out, pull the wheel off and get a handful of grease. Damn, knew just what that was so ran over to parts and got a boot kit. Figured while I was in there and it was a fresh wound (happened unnoticed within the week) I'd fix it. But at least now she is driving smooth and quiet again. (I HATE rattles,
especially in the suspension)