Seen the DIY on how to do an axle on a 96 civic, sounds pretty straight-forward.

However, dont want to get hung up on the balljoint removal bit, or tear the boot, etc...I had a bad experience w/ ball joint removal on my jeep awhile back, and I dont want to repeat that w/ the civic. I know there are tricks and all to getting that ball joint off easier, but I also remember reading somewhere awhile back about someone simply removing the upper control arm and strut instead to get the axle out?

Anybody done this? Is it going to be harder to get the axle in and out of there doing it this way?

thanks