Best practice for front sway bar link removal

Tightening torque is 55 ft-lb. Are you using a 1/2" wrench and appropriate six-point socket? I suggest that you should buy a 1/2" breaker bar and also get a 3 ft. length of steel pipe (like a TV antenna mast) whose inner diameter will fit over the breaker bar handle if you need more leverage.

Also note that you can hold the stud in place with a 6 mm hex socket key if it twists as you apply torque.

 

That's why I keep all the suspension in the front & back lubricated.

You can buy the pipe Patrick mentions at Home D or Lowes. Its electrical EMT tubing. Comes in 10 foot length.
Bring a hack saw and cut it down right outside the store. Its very thin walled tube. I keep a breaker bar, proper lug nut socket, and a 3 foot piece in the trunk off all my cars for the lug nut that won't come off if I'm stuck somewhere.

But....

Most times working on the suspension or the caliper brakes it really pays to rent an electric Dewalt 1/2 impact gun. My local rental house gets $15 a day. Money well spent. Its really easy to pull a arm tendon really laying into a stuck nut scrunched under the car wailing on a breaker bar. I hurt myself like that and it required surgery. It was the unique (bad) positioning and load that caused it.
Now I am much smarter....I let the impact gun do all the work just like any smart mechanic. But first I stretch.

 

After fighting these a while, I've used an angle grinder to remove the old nut, taking care not to nick the strut/sway bar end.

 

I've had to remove the upper side of the sway bar links when replacing front struts and haven't noticed a problem. Is the issue related to excessive corrosion due to road salt or other adverse environmental conditions?