Ha, good luck finding a torque wrench at any quick lube.

Man I felt this in my soul. I had a fossil wallet that cost me like 45 bucks and the card slots got all stretched out within a year, cards falling out every time I opened it. My dad gave me some beat up velcro thing from walmart that he'd had since like 2005 and that thing is still going strong, I used it for three years after he passed. Leather looks nice and all but stitching fails, leather cracks, and nobody ever talks about that part. You're not crazy, some of us are just rough on our stuff and cheap gear holds up better sometimes.

That sounds like a total nightmare, three nights of fighting a stuck cable would drive me up the wall too. Heat is honestly underrated for stuff like this since the metal expands at different rates and breaks the rust bond loose. Glad you finally got it out, soldering iron trick is going in my back pocket for sure.