Looking for high creep, low viscosity lubricant

[Burning Petard]

Yeah I know--3 in One penetrating oil. But that also has a corrosive quality I do not want. My problem is a device made of 316 stainless, screwed together. The two parts are intended to separate, but unscrew with ordinary hand strength, with no wrench. I suspect they were assembled at the factory dry, no lubricant, and they haven't been separated for at least five years. It does not come apart with my strength, which may be less than 'normal' and I also not have access to any kind of padded vice or clamps that would not really screw up the outer appearance.

Any suggestions? Perhaps the newest very thin synthetic auto engine oil?

snailgate.

[MajGenl.Meade]

I got a high creep one. Not sure about viscosity

[ex-khobar Andy]

Have you tried WD-40? It's supposed to be good on stainless and does not corrode it. I have not tried this so I can't talk from experience.

[MajGenl.Meade]

Would some variety of silicone work? Don't know if it would penetrate tightly bonded stuff

[Joe Guy]

As the Meadester suggested, I would try a general purpose silicone lubricant.

[liberty]

Yeah I know--3 in One penetrating oil. But that also has a corrosive quality I do not want. My problem is a device made of 316 stainless, screwed together. The two parts are intended to separate, but unscrew with ordinary hand strength, with no wrench. I suspect they were assembled at the factory dry, no lubricant, and they haven't been separated for at least five years. It does not come apart with my strength, which may be less than 'normal' and I also not have access to any kind of padded vice or clamps that would not really screw up the outer appearance.

Any suggestions? Perhaps the newest very thin synthetic auto engine oil?

snailgate.

What is the device made of? Are both pieces the same metal—stainless steel? When aluminum is attached to iron or steel, you run into the problem of dissimilar metals causing corrosion. That’s why those two components should never be placed together without anti-seize cream.

Is the bolt or screw very large or very tiny? This is a problem that has bothered me several times, and theories vary greatly on how to solve it. One technique is to heat the metal slightly. Another is to create a temperature differential between the two metals—like having one warmer than the other.

I had a similar problem once. It involved removing a pulley from the bottom of a lawn mower. The issue was that when I tried to move the pulley, the crankshaft turned, and there was no way to lock it down. So what I ended up doing was taking an old broken lawn mower belt, wrapping it around the pulley counter to the direction of the nut I needed to unscrew, tying it down, and then unscrewing the nut. As I turned the nut, the belt tightened on the pulley and broke the nut loose.

The reason I couldn’t just clamp it down was because the pulley was so fragile—I was afraid of warping it. And as you know, in any engine, a warped part can cause serious trouble later on.