no you don't need the special tool. if you can find a spacer of some sort to go around the shaft of the ball joint. then put a washer on top of it and put the nut on. as you tighten the nut it will pull the ball joint out.
To break the lower a arm loose from the ball joint simply loosen the lock nut and grab a couple of ball peen hammers. Hold one firm against the a arm by the ball joint and firmly hit the a arm on the opposite side with the other. A couple of sharp hits will break the arm loose from the taper of the ball joint. Then remove the three allen screws and retaining plate from the ball joint on the bottom of the stut. Loosely place the a arm back onto the ball joint with the lock nut and simply pry between the a arm and bottom of the strut. This will pull the ball joint from the strut. Simply tap in the new ball joint and reassemble. Be sure to use a small amount of blue loctite on the 3 retaining screws when reinstalling. Simple to do once you look at it. Hope this helps.
All good suggestions for removing a good ball joint or one that is just starting to go.
If the ball joint has a lot of slop in it you will separate the ball from the socket when you pull on it. There are two ways to deal with this depending on previous maintenance.
If the ball joint will not take grease, remove the retaining plate and use a high pressure grease gun to push the ball joint out. Try this first if it doesn't take grease now
If you tried the other posted suggestions and end up separating the ball from the socket, then clean all grease from the socket. Fill the socket cavity with 5-minute epoxy and let cure, or aluminum weld/mig the grease port closed at the top of the ball joint body. Then use the grease gun method to press the ball joint body out.
Regardless of the method you use, a little heat at the base of the strut will help.