Sidewinder swivel nut stuck

[roarf]

The AKA forum seems to be pretty dead so I'll try here. I'm having some trouble removing the swivel nut from my Sidewinder. I had it apart several years ago and used a little bit of blue Loctite upon re-assembly, as the owner's manual states. Well, I must have used too much because now I can't get it off. I've tried holding it in a vise with wood blocks to protect the threads, heating it up with a heat gun, and applying WD-40 (trying to get it to wick down into the threads) and the part just spins in the vise when I try to loosen the nut. I'm a little worried that if I tighten the vise any further it's either going to split the wood blocks or deform the swivel itself. Anyone have any suggestions on how to break it loose?

Photo for anyone that's not sure what I'm referring to.

[superman]

FIRE

[Melrosejedi]

Heat with a torch

[roarf]

It's Loctite 242 (blue) so it shouldn't need heat to remove, but will it help? Will a torch damage the anodizing? I've never had to use a torch on Loctite, even for red (permanent).

[scottieb]

It's Loctite 242 (blue) so it shouldn't need heat to remove, but will it help? Will a torch damage the anodizing? I've never had to use a torch on Loctite, even for red (permanent).

Heat will not hurt the anno, unless you're trying to melt the aluminum.

[Grendel]

If you are concerned about flame damage to the surface you can use a quality heat gun and get it hot enough (in excess of 450F)

[Myrkul]

I recently had this happen on a sidewinder. I ended up just going SUPER tight on the wood blocks and was eventually able to get it. It did not bend the aluminum, but it did deform the wood blocks pretty good.

[SR_matt]

Thread locker remover (there’s plenty of commercial ones), acetone, or even brake cleaner (usually brake cleaner is reserved for red loctite but it will break all of them). You may have to keep applying them, waiting 10-30 seconds and then try again, even if it breaks free it may freeze up again so just keep saturating and trying bit by bit.

Heat works too but you gota get it pretty warm. I found if you can touch it with your bare hands it’s probably not hot enough (conversely you don’t want to over heat it either though).