removing a severely rusted and jamed stem

Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum

Help Support Rat Rod Bikes Bicycle Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Joined
Jun 3, 2012
Messages
2,192
Reaction score
1,214
Location
arkansas city,kansas
Rating - 100%
10   0   0
once again i am turning to the help of my fellow rrbers on a problem i have that i am sure is common. i have a Schwinn i am working on and i cannot get the stem out of it.
i have hammered it soaked it in pb blaster and tried using brute force to loosen it.
no dice.
the issue im worried about is the forks are really flimsy and they flex a lot when i apply pressure.
so i turn to you my ratrodbike brethren for you're help with this matter.
i don't wanna cut it because the stems relatively good other then begin stuck.
the main bolt for the stem to connect to the forks has snapped so that's another problem.
any ideas on how to get this beast loosened?thanks
Sean.
 
1) I fill the void inside the stem and steer tube with penetrating oil through the bolt hole in the top of the stem, then let I sit for a week to a couple months. Tap on it with a hammer periodically.

2) If the wedge bolt is broken off as you describe: stick a long punch or another wedge bolt through the hole and hit with a hammer to drive the wedge free of the stem itself.
 
cool
i will try that
i tried hitting it but the other stem bolt i had bent
i will try to let it set and the hammer and see if i can't loosen it
it's shame to have to destroy the stem so im avoiding that at all costs
i tried pb blaster
any other ideas?
im thinking mystery oil as i have unseized car engines with that stuff but not sure if that's wise for the bike
thanks for the advice i will try anything at this point
thanks for the advice guys i really appreciate it
Sean
'
 
OK I just had a worse case scenario. This is what I did. I welded a piece of flat iron on the end of the shaft and put a chain around it. I found a piece of pipe that fit the crank hole perfectly and wrapped a chain around that. I attached the bottom chain to the receiver on the back of my truck and attached the shaft chain to the forks on a forklift. While heating the bike frame and pulling up with the forks it finally broke loose. This was a last ditch effort after trying everything. It worked and I now have a cool '51 skip-tooth Schwinn bicycle. Hope that was helpful. Kris
 
crisis averted after hitting it with a hammer(the broken stem bolt not the actual stem) and lots of manpower it has been removed
now onward to the next step removing the rusted chain guard bolt without cutting the guard
thanks for the advice guys
Sean
 

Latest posts

Back
Top