Bar stem stuck in forks
- Thread starter thunderbeard
- Start date
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Well if your not worried about saving the stem, cut it off flush, remove the nut and race, then with the forks out of the frame beat the wedge down. I had to get very violent with mine, including fire and PB Blaster, I believe I even drilled out the neck. But in the end I won.
Carl.
sent from my banana phone...
Carl.
sent from my banana phone...
I think the rusty patina finish is a given around here, all I saw was a cool early 60s Schwinn frame. If your not worried about the fork, its sawsall time !
Mark
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depends if you want the stem or the frame/fork.
First question..Is stem wedge bolt in it? is the wedge loose? If not back bolt off from wedge a bit and tap bolt "down" with hammer,knocking the wedge loose.
Have you flipped frame/fork and upside down w PB blaster in fork "fender bolt" hole yet?
If you have,bolt a wheel to fork,put bars on stem..put a torch to the stem ,make it red hot..tap the stem side to side while wiggling the stem using bars..Remember the stem will be "BURN you HOT"
Sometimes I forget 
hopefully that helps..also post a picture of the stem/frame/bar area..Jeff
First question..Is stem wedge bolt in it? is the wedge loose? If not back bolt off from wedge a bit and tap bolt "down" with hammer,knocking the wedge loose.
Have you flipped frame/fork and upside down w PB blaster in fork "fender bolt" hole yet?
If you have,bolt a wheel to fork,put bars on stem..put a torch to the stem ,make it red hot..tap the stem side to side while wiggling the stem using bars..Remember the stem will be "BURN you HOT"
Sometimes I forget hopefully that helps..also post a picture of the stem/frame/bar area..Jeff
I can tell you from experience that these stems are horrid when they get tuck I have one I cannot get out and when I tried to loosen it it actually snapped the stem so I discarded the frame forks and stem sounds like cutting the stem is the only way out of this one as guitarlcarl said cut it flush with the fork tube then remove the bolts and you should be good you can try heat but it it's as bad as I think you are saying there is little hope for it
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You could try to get it red hot and wrap a wet rag around it. The steam gets into it and gets it loose. I have done this with 1930s car knee shocks. It broke one free and the other remained stuck. If your gooseneck comes free I guess you would have to reheat it red and let it cool slowly to eliminate brittleness? I have tried this once on a stuck headset and it was still stuck but I reapplied PB blaster for several days on it again after it cooled. I then put the headset nut in a bench vice and used a big pry bar in the fork to remove the nut. It howled and got hot from friction but it came out. I had tried heat and PB Blaster before the steam but it stayed stuck. Sounds like your stem wedge is stuck so my method may not work? A hot rod guy showed me this and got one of my shocks free. I have also welded a large allen wrench onto a rounded off gooseneck bolt so I could get a good grip. The bolt could then be screwed out. The welding heat probably helped. The fork was bent where a previous owner had tried unsuccessfully to remove the stem. I put my pry bar in the bent fork and it came out pretty easily. I got a new fork from eBay. I once had a stuck wedge that I got out but the head tube was deformed from an over tight wedge. I used a homemade drum sander and brake hone to get enough of the deformed metal out so a new stem could be inserted. I have also not been able to get a wedge out but wanted to keep the fork. I inserted a new wedge and stem bolt above the stuck wedge. Worked fine. Keep at it, there has to be a drastic solution. RRB people go beyond what stops others. Good for us because we get these frames cheap or free.
I took it to work, put it on the chop saw. Threw a few sparks, sacrificed the neck... tomorrow, getting the neck stub out if forks. Cut as far up as I could come so I can get a good grip for extraction.
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