72W442 just wanted to get your thoughts on how to used the breaker bar to remove the starter bolts. You went from under, right? Did you have to remove the drive shaft or exhaust? Any other detail to can provide? I'm really hoping to not have to remove these if it's possible.

Thanks.

When I took my starter off, I removed the wheel and used a few extensions/u-joints to get to the bolts. I would jack that side of the front up and go at it through the wheel well with the breaker bar.

I tried a big earthquake impact (rated for 1200 ft-lbs) to get the crank bolt off one time. My experience is that they don't have as much torque as advertised. The earthquake didn't work and I used a breaker bar and the whole handle from my jack as a cheater bar to get it off.

Update that on the rusty skid bolts. I broke 2 bolts the other day that I had pretreated 2 days prior by spraying with pb blaster. I whipped up the atf/acetone mix yesterday and soaked the bolts in it. Today I came back out to try the atf/acetone bolts and they came out. Both the pb and atf/acetone bolts were torched and hammered.

OP, I think the atf/acetone really worked, so I would give it a try as well. I've also been using a propane torch, heating up the bolts, then wacking with a hammer. Have you tried heat and hammer?

Admittedly I've never done the starter removal before, but I found this video for the here: Starter Removal and Solenoid Repair. 11:05 is where he removes the starter. I know its for 3rd gen, but 1gr-fe starters are also on the side of the transmission, so a similar technique could be used. You mentioned not enough room to get leverage on the beater bar, looks like hes using a bunch of extensions and a U joint to get the breaker bar out behind the transmission. Maybe a soak the bolts the day before, torch them for a bit, hammer directly on head if possible, then try a bunch of extensions to bring the breaker bar into a manageable space.

I did it from underneath with a craftsman 1/2 breaker bar and a 12 point socket had just enough room to break them loose a little