Front wheel bearing on a '01S

[tommy986]

I think it's the diagonal that is limiting the downward movement at this point.
Remove the bolt next to the nickel in the pictures you took. Then slide the diagonal fork out of the way.

to answer your questions
#1 yes, removing the strut bolts at the top along with the diagonal brace will allow the strut to drop down, then you can swing it out from under the fender and pull the strut out of the carrier. I was replacing the struts at the same time, so this is what I did.
#2 I also just removed the ball joint bolt and pulled the carrier off the car. I had previously done the rear ball joints with the carrier on the car. After wrestling with that I had decided I wanted to do the fronts on my work bench.

At some point you will need to get the ball joint removal tool if you plan to continue to work on the car. The tool I use is KD 3916. I found mine at NAPA, but a quick online search shows that SEARS has it now for $20.