Central Rod on CG-4 is stuck

[Minimalist__]

The central rod on my CG-4 mount is stuck and has been stuck for the past couple of months. It hasn't really been a problem since I just transported the tripod and mount together. However, the dreaded bendy bolts have finally bent and to get at it I need to remove the mount.

Does anyone have any tips to unscrew the central rod from this mount? The mount is essentially a EQ3-2 but with steel tubular tripod legs. A figure from Celestron's manual shows what I need help removing:

No matter how hard I turn the mounting knob, it just doesn't budge. I have removed the plate the rear latitude adjustment bolt goes into along with the adjustment bolt so I can see the thread where the central rod screws into. I have sprayed some Duck Oil  into the thread from above. Left it for a while, tried again and sprayed again. Repeated this a few times but still isn't budging.

Any ideas would be hugely appreciated!

[Minimalist__]

I managed to remove the central rod in the end. I bought a pipe wrench because none of the wrenches I had were long enough at the handle to get good leverage. Once I got a wrench with long handles it loosened easily.

Surprised that it got so darn tight with just hand-tightening it in the first place. But it's been stuck like that for over 2 months now, so pleased to finally be able to separate the mount from the tripod!

[brantuk]

Did you slacken the azimuth bolts before trying to unscrew it? If they were tight then the center bolt can become "trapped" in position I have found.....

Glad you've sorted though.