So far no luck with the hammer getting the bolts to pop out of there, but I shot it with a ton of PB Blaster penetrating oil and will try it again in the am. If all else fails, I did see the removal fork in the store for $20 today so I may just go and buy that.
You are going to have to get mad at it, and really give it one big blow with a good sized hammer. Frontend work is not easy in my opinion. They don't want that stuff falling apart as you are driving down the road, so now you are finding out how good a job they did designing it to hold together.