Fought a corroded cannon plug for 6 hours, one trick finally cracked it

Last month on a C-130 in Tucson, I had a J-box cannon plug that would not budge. PB Blaster, heat gun, even a cheater bar, nothing. Turns out the corrosion was actually acting like glue on the O-ring groove, not the threads. I dripped some acetone around the shell and let it sit for 15 minutes, then it twisted off by hand. Learned that acetone breaks down the oxidation bond way faster than penetrating oil on older mil-spec connectors. Has anyone else tried solvent tricks on stuck plugs, or do you just cut and replace the harness? I'm curious if I got lucky or if this is a known field trick.

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hannah_williams22d ago

So six hours on one plug and now it's a "field trick"? Seems like you just got lucky with that particular corrosion. Acetone's not exactly a miracle solvent, it's just faster at eating certain seal materials than penetrating oil is. I'd still cut the harness if the connector's that far gone, not trust a 15 minute soak to fix something that took you all day.