Thanks for the link Al. I figured someone had been there before. Boy what a pain! Visualize this, A 4 Runner in the back yard with a 3 strand rope tied to the hitch and the other end tied to a handrail, the wife in the truck, inching forward while I'm banging on the bottom with a rubber mallet and a 2x4. It finally twisted and broke the bond. I though the wife was going to cry she was so elated. So after a half of a can of WD-40, many hours spread out over the weekend banging, prodding, twisting, jacking (I used a floor jack as well), cursing I finally got both the ladder and rail out! Waste was right in the other post, P.O.P. (Pool Owner Patience) is exactly what it took. All the pipes are slightly dinged up but definitely still usable and not very noticeably damaged.
This past year when installing, I used Lithium grease to try to prevent this from happening. Unfortunately, it was worse this year than it had ever been. Can't figure out why. I'm going to try the Vaseline or maybe even bearing grease next year. Using silicon around the top to keep the water out is an excellent idea Canuck! I'll try that as well. I'm also going to take both the ladder and rail out every couple of months next year to keep them loose.

Dave