Help! - Upstream sensor replacement

Hi All

I have been lurking on the boards since last week when I bought a used 04 Prius. This board has been incredibly helpful in fixing the little things I knew needed fixed. I managed to do those without much difficulty so I tried to do something a bit more complicated - replacing the upstream sensor. What a PITA.

Prior to starting I ordered the Schley 66750B socket people have had some luck with.

I have taken off the wipers, cowl, etc to work on it from the top.

After all of that I could not get the socket on because of the heat shield. I admit I spent way too much time trying to make that work before I jacked the car up to get some snips in to cut the shield back a bit so I could the socket on the sensor.

Socket is on now but there is zero room to move any of the ratchets I have to try to get it off. What have you done to get this to work?

It's hot as hell out and I have spent the last 5 hours on this thing so I'm beyond frustrated. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

So far I have managed to get a pry bar beneath the ratchet and hit it with a hammer a bit help relieve some of the frustration bur I can't get much force on it because the car is still pretty close to the ground.