Q on removing grease fitting, bleeding hydraulic

[westshore]

On my '02 773 the base end angled grease fitting is severely clogged and the hex is rounded, and I can't loosen it in the cramped space to replace it. Any ideas on how to loosen this? Even vise grips are slipping and I fear snapping it off. Alternately I may remove the lift cylinder to give me more working room to remove this fitting. The 2 hoses to the cylinder must be disconnected to remove the cylinder (the service manual says disconnect and plug). On reinstalling the cylinder will I need to somehow bleed the hydraulic? I do not see any mention in the manual but want to check before I tackle this.

 

[sp6x6]

try some JB BLASTER first to lossen things up day before, might be able to cut angle off and slip socket over, or cut notch in it and unscrew

 

[Tazza]

try some JB BLASTER first to lossen things up day before, might be able to cut angle off and slip socket over, or cut notch in it and unscrew

The hydraulics self bleed, so don't worry about that! They may be a little jittery if you loose a LOT of oil but if you remove the lines and plug them up you won't even notice the small amount of air that will be in there. If you pulled the cylinder out and drained all the oil you would noctice it though! but again, it would self bleed.
As for removing it i really can't think of better ways... You can some times strike the head with a hammer to crack the seal. You can even weld a bolt to it too, the heat helps break the seal too.