When I did mine, it popped and creaked as I tightened the clamp. I didn't have to put the super squeeze on it. I think that it is a matter of leverage more than brute force, for once. Once I squeezed the bolt down flush, I opened up the clamp and used a bolt I had lying around to squeeze it through the rest of the way. It never gave up and it protested almost all of the way out. I didn't have to remove the battery and battery tray on mine, a 240.

You will be pleased with the results from changing your UCA's. Mine were so bad that you could see that the wheels were leaning and splayed out of alignment. New UCA's corrected that problem although I replaced all of the steering rods, ball joints, and idler arm bushings too.

I just got in from changing the rear sway bar links tonight. A pretty easy and inexpensive job and now all of the clunking in the rear is gone. Good luck!

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'82 240D Euro 68K and growing