UKC

So I went winter climbing and didn't dry my cams properly and now I've tried to use them again, they've seized up. It's three of them but only in some of the moving pieces.

I've tried water and soap, soaking them in wd 40, soaking them in cocacola, and soaking them in petrol. No change at all.

Does anyone have anything else I can try before I spend loads of money on new ones?

Cheers!

In reply to tomytwotoes:

Boiling? I've boiled stuck cams in water with good results. Vice grips to force the lobes to work every once in a while while boiling

In reply to tomytwotoes:

Lubricat and tap on the ends of the cam on a pice of metal to move the loabs up and down the shaft. It will free off with persistence.

In reply to Graham:

, I forgot to say that I had tried boiling water when I cleaned them with soap...

Thank you for the answer though!

In reply to tomytwotoes:

at the suggestion of some mates I once rescued a totally seized cam (didnt rinse after sea cliff climbing) with the aid of olive oil. or if that doesnt work and all else fails how about trying penetrating oil - dont snigger, its used for releasing seized wheel nuts among other things http://www.wd40.co.uk/wd-40-specialist/fast-release-penetrant/ or http://www.screwfix.com/p/no-nonsense-penetrating-lubricating-oil-750ml/193... (among others)

In reply to tomytwotoes:

Soak the heads in boiling water (aluminium expands more than steel) then apply penetrating oil, tap alternating ends of the axles on hard surfaces and work the cam lobes by hand. Repeat until free or the pain from oily burned hands is worse than the pain of shelling out for new cams.

Alternating hot/ice-cold plunges with some smacking about might also be worth a shot to break the bond. As might be some brute force (hammer, vise, press) though you risk doing damage which could be hard to spot.
jk

In reply to tomytwotoes:

I personally use bicycle chain lube on my cams which has the added benefit of protecting them from the elements relatively well.

In reply to tomytwotoes:

Give PlusGas a try - better than WD40 for releasing jammed things. I that fails then try rust remover - works on all sorts of things but as with all these products keep away from plastics and fabric parts. Hammerite do a gel that's good.

In reply to tomytwotoes:

+1 penetrant oil.

Can un-seize engines, release bolts rusted shut etc ... If you can't get it moving with this stuff ... they are probably knackered. Longer you can leave it to soak in the better.

http://www.halfords.com/motoring/engine-oils-fluids/lubricating-penetrating...

(Got to ask yourself if you really want to climb on these again after this. If you've seized an engine and get it moving again - you have definitely reduced the normal life of your engine. Do you really want to climb on cams that have been stuck so tight that you've had to put them back through this to get them going again ... just a thought.)

In reply to tomytwotoes:

Ultrasonic cleaner, they are about £25. Never tried one. They are sold for cleaning jewellery etc. A mate got one and said it made his cams like new, but I don't know how seized they were to start with and he is a bit of a gadget freak spendthrift.

In reply to tomytwotoes:

This sort of thing is what I was alluding to
https://www.amazon.co.uk/600mL-Ultrasonic-Cleaner-Cleaning-Basket/dp/B011LG...

In reply to Stew99:


I don't think you can draw too many comparisons between a cam and an engine, just think about the duty cycle of a piston moving thousands of times a minute compared to a cam lobe moving a couple of times a day maybe if you do a lot of climbing.

In reply to gethin_allen:

Fair comment.

Just a thought for consideration.

(Maybe difference is ... an engine can misfire once and you'll live. Your cam might need to work on that crucial placement or you'll hit the ground. Just a thought.)