Used a wire brush from a die-grinder on the struts... still not sure what I have, or whether these re Cougar struts -- but I noticed two things that make me say , huh... under the paint there are occasional (what appear to be ) dings -- probably no serious affect in tension, but I wonder about compression... and there appear to be small hairline spider cracks ever now and again -- need to ask someone what the Piper struts look like when they corrode...??? Couldn't detect any rosettes and so I don't know whether an inner tube is used in these struts either -- although I was able to loosen the jam nut on the clevis, the clevis itself seems pretty solidly locked to the threads -- I'll do the penetrating oil thing and give it another whirl... So, I still don't know what I'm dealing with -- this is what happens when a rotund, 21st-century Bob Cratchit tries to build an airplane; way out of his area of expertise...
