There has been an Email going around lately that talks about the wonderful things that WD-40 can do. In addition to the many lubricating jobs where it is helpful, it is claimed that WD-40 will do many other unexpected things. For instance, it will keep silver from tarnishing, it will keep flies off cows, it will keep pigeons off a balcony, it will attract fish if sprayed on the live bait or on the lure and it will even ease the pain of fire ant bites, to mention a few.
I remember an instance when it didn’t do a good job, however, back about forty years ago in the early days of TWA’s operation of 707-131B`s. The thrust reversers would tend to stick so the cure was for a mechanic to grab a can of WD-40 (the mechanic’s friend) and copiously spray the thrust reverser parts, which would loosen them up and get that darned airplane off on its way without a mechanical delay being charged to that station, only to have the same sticky problem show up again at the next station where it would get another shot of WD-40.
That continuing problem of sticky thrust reversers caused Power Plant Engineer Dick (Pinkey) Pinkston a lot of concern as he wondered what was causing the problem and how to remedy it.
One Monday morning, however, Pinky came to work with a smile on his face and said that he knew what was causing that stickiness problem. Over the weekend he had put some WD-40 on a hot surface on his lawn mower or tractor and found that when applied on a hot surface the WD­40 would get as sticky as glue. So word was sent out telling the mechanics not to use WD-40 on the thrust reversers, but a suitable lubricant had to be found. Pinky, along with some other smart Power Plant Engineers, came up with a solution of molybdenum-disulphide powder mixed with alcohol that did the job. The alcohol would carry the lubricating powder to the appropriate places and then would evaporate. The problem was solved.
Were there any other applications where WD-40 was not very good? I heard from one source that it didn’t work very well on bicycle chains……By, Keith Horton