Undoing corroded(?) stainless steel fittings

[Modulation]

My headstay is a rodrigging affair with a threaded end screwing into a small turnbuckle, in turn fixed to the stem head. I need to renew the drum to my jib furler (bearings totally shot) but the drum won't slip over the turnbuckle, so I need to unscrew the tb. Trouble is it's proving v difficult to do, caked in salt and the rigging itself has no flat bit to get a spanner onto. Any ideas?
Brendan

 

[Guest]

You could try
1running hot / warm fresh water over it for a long time, drying it
2 put on some liquid wrench or WD40 or Castrol WDF soak it leave it for awhile, gently tap with a hammer,
3 repeat 2 until free

Pete

 

[gus]

If your rod rigging and your turnbuckle are both stainless steel, it is possible that the threads in both have galled together. This is because the stainless steel is intrinsically a softer metal than we would expect with mild steel and the slightest deformation of the threads causes a general failure of the thread definition. It literally seizes together. I t will be worth trying the other suggestions first but you may have to cut the rod just above the turnbuckle, rethread it and fit a new bronze turnbuckle with an extension peice below to make up for the shorter length.