Sticky Rice is right. No need to undo the upper arm bolt in the front. It's a little tricky the first time you do it but it can be done no problem. Push down on the spindle, and push the shock assembly back and to the left until it clears the lower arm. It will drop down and then pull it out. On assembly, it makes it easier if you have the coilover set up such that the ride height is set at its lowest. This will give you the most clearance. Once you bolt it in, readjust the ride height to your initial guess.
As for the breaker bar, no, a shop would use their 800 ft-lb Snap-on impact wrench and big ass air compressor, both of which most do-it-yourselfers don't have. My $250 air compressor which flows 4 scfm at 90 psi isn't even close to enough flow to use a "real" impact wrench. However, a 4ft breaker bar can be had by the average Joe for $20 and works great. But again, no need to deal with the long bolt, plastic shielding, windshield fluid tank, etc.
If your links are rusted to the point that removing the nut is not possible (eg. you stripped the hex key hole in the middle of the stud and now the ball joint rotates with the nut) just use vice grips and hold the ball joint stud. Don't ask me why the rear links have those great clips which prevent the ball joint from rotating and fronts don't.
Good luck!
