yea i used a dewalt 120 volt electric it has 350~ft/lbs torque its friggen powerfull as hell and hurts the hands after doing Ski hill groomer track belts for weeks on ends hahaha.

Even tho i still cracked em first , i also pryed downwards on the bolt to keep it sturdy and tight and the nut in the locking clip.. only had 1 bolt give me grief and it was easy access surprising the 2 beind front wheels were the easiest ones..

 

I used a Milwaukee 18V with 450ft-lbs of torque. I disassembled the whole truck with it, the only thing it had problems with was the bloody body mounts, even once cracked, the bolts were rusted to the sleeves on the mounts, and the rubber just absorbed all the energy. The worst ones were the rad mounts and right behind the tires.

 

right on cd36 !
People forget about breaker bars.

Newer 1/2" impact guns can have 600ftlbs+ of reverse torque which can snap damn near anything. I have to dial mine back so that doesn't happen on rusty bolts, unless I want it too.

One thing I like about manual tools is you can feel what is happening.
It's easy to snap stuff with an impact gun but with a bar you can feel what is going on and even work the bolt back and forth.

Soak the crap out of the nuts, over a period of days, and gently use a bar. Work it back and forth. Take your time.
You want to work the bolt back and forth but not fatigue the weld holding the nut in place.
That way you may avoid breaking the welded nut loose.

A torch is the ultimate tool for this type of stuff. Get the nut hot and back the bolt out. It takes some experience to do it, but it works well.
If I remember correctly, the nuts for the bolts behind the front wheels have a small gap in the sheet metal at the corner of the boxed in section. Maybe a torch flame could get in there ?
There is a risk of catching the carpet on fire inside so I would only try it with nothing near the bolt location.

A professional long time mechanic buddy of mine, uses a torch to get rusted brake fittings apart. In all the years he's done it, he has evidently only broken or twisted a few lines. Without the torch almost all rusty brake fittings end up twisting the lines. Some guy taught him the technique 25 years ago.
That type of small part takes some experience though. I tried it recently on an old van and got one off fine, but melted the 2nd fitting. All good IMO. Only had to replace one line, not both. Which I would have had to do had I just used a wrench alone.

Just some of the reasons I'd like to get an acetylene torch, instead of borrowing one all the time.


FWIW: The rubber simply surrounds the metal plate, that the bolt goes through, and wouldn't absorb the impact of the gun to the nut itself.
Though....If bolts are long enough they can twist very slightly like a torsion bar, absorbing the impact.
I had that problem with the extra long ones used for the body lift.

 

I think what part of my problem was though, that the bolt was also rusted to the metal sleeve inside the rubber. Once I started turning it with the breaker bar, the rubber would turn as well. I think most of my problem was getting the bolt free from the metal sleeve, and the impact couldn't do it as the rubber cushioned the impact from the metal sleeve. Even with the breaker bar when I would turn the bolt 1/2 a turn, when I went to relieve pressure to reposition the breaker bar, the bolt would come back 1/4 turn on me, because I was twisting the rubber.

Either way breaker bar worked best on them for whatever reason.