Disassembling the Roadmaster

[Laxbeaver]

Hi all, I thought I'd share some pics (and a boatload of questions) about taking apart this Roadmaster. I can't offer a lot of advice on the forum, so I thought maybe you'd find it interesting. Also nice for me to document it too.
I've had the bike for two weeks now and got quite a few parts off pretty easily, but I went and stripped the bolt holding the bars on the stem. Might as well put it right out there haha. Rather embarrassed but I swear I soaked it in PB and oil for a week before I did it. Not too bad, but a regular wrench or socket won't do it now. I've left it alone for another week, adding pb daily. anyone know what tool is best now? I didn't want to buy a set of those special sockets for one bolt. My cousin has a nice auto repair shop, I'm thinking of taking it to him once I get the stem out of the forks (stuck also). So far its my only screw up, other than a nut from the fender is somewhere in the carpet by my bench. So the long bars remain until I get it out.
To keep patient, I set up another bike to work on until something else loosens up The bike has been sitting so long, I can give it a few weeks or whatever it takes!
A few questions on everything:

First, how do you get the front wheel on and off without breaking your knuckles? I felt like I was setting a bear trap haha. Shorten the hub? Install the hub through the fork?

Here's my hack for a tough pedal when you don't have a big enough vise:

Crank came out no trouble. Black grease in there kept things nice. A few bearings were out of the race. I should just get new ones I'm guessing. No pic but the cups wiped nice and clean.

Found the master link in the chain, no trouble there either. What's next for that? I looked for rust remover locally, all I could find was naval jelly. I'll do a thread about cleaning and stuff later, but would like to get the chain nice and loose.

The seat was the next thing loose, surprisingly easy, maybe because the bolts are underneath. The old wrenches seem to fit the square bolts best. So cool you only need a few wrench sizes for this bike. And leave your metric set in the drawer haha.
A little twisting, oiling and prying to get it off the post...

Serial No.

There is a kind of insert in here:

I got the one chain tightener(?) loose with the nut that's on it, the other has no nut and the pin part is broken. What do I turn it with, a pliers? The end is weird...
It looks like its set up for the old kind of kickstand.

These bolt heads at the top of the truss, are they really a bolt that goes into the rod? Or just looks?
Rod is bent from hitting the frame...

So the stem bolt down into the fork came right out, but the nut inside is stuck, of course. I've read the how-to and stuff, and its been soaking nonstop, including upside down etc. But the last time I laid into a bolt with a hammer and board, it drove the bolt into the nut and ruined the threads and still didn't come out. Before I smack it, I thought I'd get some advice from the pros.

The top nut on the headset won't budge either, I think it's hard to get any loosening product to the threads. If I get the stem out, might be easier. I'll try laying it on its side too, I guess.

Well that's a lot of questions, I know. Any help is very much appreciated! Wish the pics were better, usually working on em at night and the garage is a messs....

 

[deorman]

If the long bolt is out, you should be able to get the stem out and use something other than your bolt as a drift on the wedge nut. Some steer tubes are open at the bottom as well, but I guess you would have noticed if that were the case. Don't lose the seatpost shims if they're loose, they're made of unobtainium. If they are loose, you can often use a 13/16" seatpost if you remove them. Plain old vice grips may work on the handlebar clamp bolt.

 

[Laxbeaver]

Haha unobtanium, I literally laughed out loud! It's stuck in there, I'll leave it alone.

Is this what you mean by open end? Do you mean once the stems out i could hit the wedge nut from the bottom? I could see flipping it and knocking the stem downward, leaving the wedge nut, thanks.

I actually had a vice grip on the bolt, but didn't have the guts to turn it. I'll wait a little more and try again. Tried to clean the visible threads but couldn't do much.

Gotta get those bars off! But see what happens when you're too eager.

 

[horsefarmer]

My weapons of choice for rusty stuff is heat and pb blaster. I freed a stem of the same design that was stuck so I could remove the bars. Take a small wire brush and clean the exposed bolt threads so oil can get into the threads better. Apply heat to the lower area of the casting, then apply penetrating oil then tap with a hammer to set up vibrations and let the oil seep into the threads. Let it cool (you can't be in a hurry), find a 6 pt box end or socket that fits snug, and try to break it loose. Don't overdo it, sometimes tapping the wrench helps, sometimes trying to tighten it slightly helps. Just keep repeating till it frees.

 

[deorman]

Re: Open end - yep that's what I meant.

 

[Laxbeaver]

Thanks, I'm definitely gonna add some heat to the equation, I'm thinking just hot to the touch, right? Maybe I'll heat and tap it a couple nights in a row, then again when I'm ready to try removal. As my name implies, too much hurry is usually not a problem lol.