thanks for the help so far.

I looked at my joints again,

first, I looked at my joints, to get a feel for access. On the bolts that hold the joint to control arm, two of the bolts look like they might carriage bolts? there's no head, and the two go into a plate that is between the flat bolt head and the control arm. I assuming they are carriage type bolts, and the plate has square flats?

Second, it looks tough to get a socket on the four bolts holding the joint to the strut bracket, you need to turn the wheel to one side, then the other? and work two at a time?