Top strut mounting nuts are siezed - 07 Tacoma

I'm replacing my front struts (preset with coil springs), and rear shocks. Figured this would be a quick job, but the rust on my truck (living in the northeast) makes removing or loosening things brutal. The current challenge that I can't seem to get past is the three nuts at the top.

Does anyone have any suggestions how to remove, cut, or get any type of effective tool that would accomplish removing these nuts? So far I broke a socket on one of them and haven't even attempted the other two yet. I can't get my cutoff tool in there, and debating if my sawzall will fit in there. The second nut looks just as rusty as the one I tried to remove, and I'm far from looking forward to tackling the one that is hidden in the rear.
Right now everything is bathing in PB blaster.

Suggestions will be much appreciated.

 

I'll generally take a 14mm closed end wrench and smack it with a 3lb deadblow and it works pretty well. Heat also helps if you have a torch.

The nuclear option if it's REALLY in there would be to disassemble the coilovers on the truck so you have better access to the rear most nut. The front two could be cut off with a pneumatic cut off tool. The rear one I would probably drill out from the bottom/use an air chisel to rip it in half.



Here's how you'd disassemble them on the truck, which may or may not be possible if your lower control arm hardware is seized.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5E6u7dC7EHg&t

 

Heat helps if you can't get a tool in there to cut em

 

I thought about using heat but I was concerned about the gas used in the shock if it's flammable. Okay, I'll give that a shot.

Great suggestions. Thank you both.

 

Shocks are charged with an inert gas, usually nitrogen, so there's no concern of it being flammable or anything. Not to mention that the body of the shock that contains the gas is at the bottom of the coilover assembly, so there's really no concern there. If you got the nuts hot enough to somehow cause the nitrogen in the shocks to react, you'd probably have melted your frame by then.

 

The way this is going, keep an eye out for a mushroom cloud...

 

Closing the loop on this thread. Mission accomplished. I didn't need to heat up the bolts, I put my wrench on it and gave it a few smacks with my 3lb sledge, as EST suggested.

One side done anyway. Thanks for your suggestions!

 

Hell yeah! That's good to hear, congrats on the progress.

 

I've done this with an die grinder like EatSleepTacos says, but just slicing the rear bolt in half. Then I used a punch to rotate the nut and it all came apart. The front bolts I cut with a regular 4.5" angle grinder.

Granted I was doing this on an older 3rd gen 4runner, but it was similar setup to our trucks.

 

What really annoyed me the most is not only did the hidden/back nut make it annoying to remove, but even after the initial breaking it loose, on both struts they fought all the way out to the last thread. They were fighters, I'll give them that!

 

For future reference this tool is your friend for seized nuts in the Northeast.