Thanks for everyones help! I finally was able to crush the sleeve, but it took some enginuity...

Stack of blocks stopping the channel locks, which had a hose clamp around the handle holding the jaws tight. Then I used a floor jack to tighten the nut. Little by little, I would jack it up, then take it all off and measure rotational torque...

Needless to say, just took a test drive and everything is peechy!