Took me 3 hours to figure out a loose static wick on a CRJ

I was doing a simple walk around on a CRJ700 yesterday and found one of the static wicks hanging by a thread. Thought it'd be a 20 minute swap. Pulled the old one off, went to install the new one, and the damn base was frozen solid with corrosion. Spent an hour with a tiny pick and some WD-40 trying to get the old base out without damaging the skin. Finally got it free, but then the new wick wouldn't click in all the way because the hole was slightly buggered. Had to file it down with a jewelers file for another 45 minutes. What should have been a quick fix ate up half my shift. Anybody else run into corrosion issues on those CRJ static wicks?

2 comments

2 Comments

wren97617d ago

Why are we acting like a little corrosion on a CRJ is some kind of rare freak event? I've been wrenching on these things for a while and that's basically the norm once they hit a certain age. The real question is why you didn't just hit it with some penetrating oil before you even started. A half hour of that would have saved you the filing and the headache. And using a tiny pick on a frozen base? C'mon, you knew that was gonna take forever. That's the kind of stuff you learn on the second one you do. The manual might say "replace static wick" but it doesn't mention the 2 hour fight you're signing up for.

ruby_sanchez4517d ago

Did you try wd-40 first? My dog once chewed through a static wick box.