Products and Methods to Dissolve Corrosion Inside Frozen Hitch Lock

Question:

any secret to open this after it has sat a few years? plastic cover shows a 54089 number inside it but key shows a 2128 ? put it on front of jeep put key on keychain and went to Afghanistan, years past... just tried to remove it will not come off. is key supposed to turn to free it. it slides in only saturated it with wd-40 but will not turn in cylinder whole thing will turn on locking pin may have to have it torched off?

asked by: Steve

Expert Reply:

It may take more than one application of WD40 to loosen the internal mechanism, especially after years without use. You can try applying the solvent (PB Blaster works well too) multiple times and give it time to soak in and dissolve the corrosion that is likely to be the reason the key will not turn. This often means a heavy application, waiting overnight, applying it again and perhaps even more waiting time.

If you can move the entire lock into different positions during this application process that will allow the solvent to work its way into more parts of the mechanism and improve the chances for it to work on the corrosion.

expert reply by: Adam R