Cleaning Mooney yoke shafts

[jelswick]

My Mooney's interior overall looks nice and clean, but when I bought it 3 or 4 years ago, the yoke shafts didn't have that nice chromed look.  I had the interior redone and the yokes leather wrapped, but I'm curious if anyone's had any luck restoring a nice shine to the shafts.  They almost look a little rusty as shown in the attached photo.  I've tried basic metal cleaner cloths like you can get in an auto store, but it didn't make much noticeable difference.  Any products or method anyone recommends?

[MooneyMitch]

Hi Jim.

Your plane is beautiful!  I might suggest trying 'bronze wool".  It can be purchased at your local hardware store, at least here in CA. 

This material will remove corrosion without destroying the finish.  I've used it many times on many metal finishes and it works great. 

[DaV8or]

Try Flitz polish. That stuff seems to polish everything!

[jelswick]

Thank you both!  Love this forum!  I don't know how we could ever get such helpful quick replies on things unique to our aircraft.  This sounds like a good approach and I appreciate it.  And thank you for the feedback on 45T.  I'm missing having her here right now because she's out in Henderson, KY getting an Aspen install completed and when I get her back I want to get those yokes looking like new!  Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

[Kwixdraw]

If the shafts have gotten to the point where they have pits that keep blooming corrosion, wipe them with a little straight vinegar and let it sit a few minutes. Polish them then coat with ACF-50/Corrosion-X/ Boeshield or something similar. Flitz is great stuff and works great on hazy plastic lenses and such stuff. If you need just a touch of scrubbing power use a paper towel to apply it instead of a soft cloth.

[Capt_CrashN_Burn]

Has anyone tried finishing their yoke shafts with gun blueing??

[Kwixdraw]

To blue them (a process of oxidation) you would have to remove them and strip all the chrome off. Cold blue is certainly not durable enough and probably would not give the appearance you are after. Hot blueing would probably be as expensive as rechroming them since they would have to be well polished. I would think you would have to get a field approval to do it legally.