Finally going to send my airwalk out for anodize, and I'm in the process of sanding and polishing

I'm also removing all the widgets.

The trigger pin pressed out ok

The retaining set screw on the ball comes out fine, as does the safety lock pin itself but nothing else does.

Before I start pushing hard on things I don't understand, does anyone have any information on how these frames went together, or why I might have this issue, or even what the typical workaround might be?

Thanks in advance!

Edit: if the balls and springs were cheap enough, I might do something medieval and buy new ones...