Loosening a frozen Yakima Tower?

I have a set of Yakima lo-rider mounts attached to my car’s factory roof rails. After the past winter I found that one of the towers

cannot be adjusted or removed. The tightening mechanism is frozen. I have sprayed it several times with WD-40 and another anti-seize compound. I have also given it several good whacks with a machinist’s hammer on the exposed end of the threaded tightening bolt.

Any suggestions on how to loosen the bolt/adjuster without damage?



Thanks.

Impact tool
I have a tool from my mechanic days that has a 3/8 socket stud on one end. It is heavy and rotates for on or off. When you whack the end with a hammer it causes the socket to rotate slightly while applying forward pressure. I used it to get phillips head bolts out of motorcycle engine sidecases. Impala Bob

Be careful. They’re easy to break/strip.
Call Yakima and ask them. They were good to deal with.

Try some heat from…
a hair dryer on it.



Cheers,

JackL

Careful!
Is it the threaded take-up assembly, or the Zytel wedges that are stuck?



I just traded cars, and getting my LowRiders to let go of the bars was difficult. Tou might try smacking the metal casting with a RUBBER mallet while twisting the bar. Once the bar is loose, the wedges will follow soon after.



Jim

It’s the the threaded take-up assembly
as best as I can determine, Jim. There is a bit of rust on the threads. I have repeated tried loosing/twisting the Zytel wing/arm (the part that can be locked down with keyed core locks). It will move a quarter of a turn, but I can see that all it is doing is shifting around on the bolt head. e.g. the threaded bolt itself IS NOT moving.



I did give Yakima a call. They were very polite and offered to supply some replacements parts, but this really doesn’t help me get the Tower loose or off of the car : - (



Thanks, Joe

Well, in that case
I don’t have any good ideas. Liquid wrench and time may be your best option.



Good luck

Jim

Try some Classic Coke. It eats rust.
Seriuosly. Just make sure you wash everything afterwards.