two points of note:
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I regularly see people on YouTube ignore the staked material and just twist it free
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there wasn't actually any staked material left lol, it was just rust. not rusty steel. rust.
but yes, I think cleaning up the rust as best I could around those threads did help - I drilled it out and a dozen places and snapped two small drill bits doing so, but I think it helped some penetrant get in there as well as clear out some of the material preventing rotation