I wanted to close the loop on this now for anyone that pops into this thread via google or the such looking for a similar answer.
In short, without risking substantial damage, even with heat, the adjustment pipes were not going to move. Years of rain, road grime, and rust took its toll. I hit a local big truck junk yard and found an old 80's ford tri-axle dump with a set of "universal" west coast mirrors and grabbed them along with a good looking set of mirrors from a modern Kenworth (didn't want mirrors with a Ford logo on my Chevrolet).
Now, most "universal" mirrors work best for trucks with flat doors or slightly curved doors like the 80's squarebody Chevy's. They don't direct fit onto these older big bolts with the big girl curves. They can easily be made to work, but it requires all new mounting holes be drilled in the doors, so factor in body work to seal/finish the old holes and then drill new ones. Now, some trucks had/have the typical style with the diagonal support running from the bottom of the mirror to the upper door mount, but my truck runs that diagonal from the bottom of the mirror to the lower door with a 3rd set of mounting holes. I neither wanted to get into body work yet nor wanted to punch more holes into my darn near pristine doors, so I did it differently.
I opted to quickly modified my originals by cutting the original C60 mirrors from their brackets, taking the outer extension from the universal set and mounting it in place of the original mirror, then using the universal mounting kit straps to mount up the Kenworth mirrors to the extension. This way I didn't have to fight the stuck adjustment pipes or modify the doors and without needing to adjust any of the original mirror extensions, I gained 8" outward stance and the ability to now fully adjust the mirrors into whatever configuration, angle, or tilt that I desire. A quick hit with the wire brush, fresh primer and paint, mounted with silicone sealer against the door body to keep out water, and then some grounding straps for the antennas, and she is perfect and actually looks better than original.
Plus, these Kenworth mirrors (which cost my $30) are heated units......soooo no more wiping down mirrors every cold dewy morning! And no, the mirrors were not painted on the truck. The grey discoloration around where the brackets meet the doors is primer sealer from some rust touch-ups from the brackets leaking water into the doors prior to rebuild.
And to Gulfsuper, I have a separate thread going for more truck info to keep this one on topic.
