Any help? Stem seems to be stuck - Seized quill stems

Use the force, Luke.

yeah if you want to scratch and dent your stem.. damn foreign jonnys coming here damaging our bikes!

envy that I don't teach you!!

How old is the marriage between forks & stem? Mine was well and truly fused together and had no doubt lived out in the rain for years. Multiple applications of WD40 did absolutely bugger all for me.

If it's being really stubborn and wont move you need to find something solid to sit the fork crown on, otherwise all the hammer force is only bending the fork blades and squashing your tyre. I used a cast iron park bench end with piece of wood for damage protection for the fork crown. A few good hard hits right on the bolt will free it - don't assume the stem will be usable afterwards however, unless you own a copper mallet. I had to use a big ball pein and the stem knew all about it.

thanks for all the replies... i think they have been locked together in a passionate embrace for atleast 1 year, outside in the rain. i have tried smacking it with a hammer a few times, and tried wd-40, so i will try hoonz idea and see how it goes.. also somebody told me that ammonia is good to try and dissolve the fusion between the stem and fork,, anybody heard of this??

How old is the marriage between forks & stem? Mine was well and truly fused together and had no doubt lived out in the rain for years. Multiple applications of WD40 did absolutely bugger all for me.

If it's being really stubborn and wont move you need to find something solid to sit the fork crown on, otherwise all the hammer force is only bending the fork blades and squashing your tyre. I used a cast iron park bench end with piece of wood for damage protection for the fork crown. A few good hard hits right on the bolt will free it - don't assume the stem will be usable afterwards however, unless you own a copper mallet. I had to use a big ball pein and the stem knew all about it.

thanks for all the replies... i think they have been locked together in a passionate embrace for atleast 1 year, outside in the rain. i have tried smacking it with a hammer a few times, and tried wd-40, so i will try hoonz idea and see how it goes.. also somebody told me that ammonia is good to try and dissolve the fusion between the stem and fork,, anybody heard of this??

Ive heard of people on here using caustic soda but apparently it literally dissolves the whole stem in a day or so. If you can find a good "street anvil" then you'll have it out in 5mins. Once the stem starts to move downwards about a 1/2", you should be able to twist it out with the bars

had the same issue yesterday with a bike I am fixing up, I think the stem had been in there since 1978. I tried everything mentioned here except caustic soda. In the end I stripped everything else off of the frame, turned it upside down and got a big friend to stand in it, took a big hammer, held a big lump of wood against the underside of the stem, and after 3 or 4 minutes of steady pounding, it came out. it barely moved at first but once it did it was relatively easy. What's a street anvil?

yeah if you want to scratch and dent your stem.. damn foreign jonnys coming here damaging our bikes!

rubber mallet

hello. having the same problem - and bent forks so i'm not sure if things are a little more messed up than they seem. have tried many of the solutions - can anyone help with any other suggestions?

I think the stem's been in there for a really long time - so it might be unsaveable...

Cheers!

Bite it off...

I did try and now i have no teeth. :)

if its a quill stem put a bar in it and just twist it
as you twist it lift it up like a sort of spiral action
if its really really stuck you might snap the bar so get a bar with a thicker walling
i dont think the stem will bend/break so i would give it a try but its up to you

There's a whole load of suggestions in this recent thread - I've had the same problem. In the end success after about 2 weeks of soaking in caustic soda.

http://www.londonfgss.com/thread20985.html

Good luck.

What's a street anvil?

Any street furniture which has potential as an anvil/bodge/fixing object due to it's inherent shape and or construction. As I don't have a work bench or vice I sometimes go looking for one of these. Council tax has to pay for something good, right?

if its a quill stem put a bar in it and just twist it
as you twist it lift it up like a sort of spiral action
if its really really stuck you might snap the bar so get a bar with a thicker walling
i dont think the stem will bend/break so i would give it a try but its up to you

do not do this.

you can bend your fork.

Caustic soda is one way, providing you're not expecting to keep the stem afterwards! & caustic soda is not very nice stuff (remember the hand burning scene in Fight Club?!) so make sure you take adequate precautions.....

See topwards the bottom of this thread...: http://www.londonfgss.com/thread18525.html

edit: this only works for Alloy stems stuck in Steel forks, Basically Caustic Soda will dissolve Aluminium....

Assuming it is a quill stem, undo the bolt about half way and then give it a decent whack on the top with a hammer, straight down. Should be enough to release the stem.

This just worked for me. This man is a genius and I will fight* anyone who says other wise!

*by fight i mean look at meanly.

Alloy quill stem stuck in steel fork.

I've scored some ammonia solution and I'm using that to break the corrosion. I think the stem is the "expander" type, rather than the "wedge", and the hammer trick seems to have just pushed the expander out of reach of the long screw... so I'm using a cork that I chopped up to keep the ammonia soaking. Not sure how long I need to leave the ammonia to do its magic...

can you reach the bottom of the expander with a length of threaded rob. If you can thread it into the expander then fit a washer over threaded rod onto the bottom of the crown on the fork. Then tighten a nut onto the threade rod it mey pull the expander down and loosen the steerer. Good luck

Cheers - I think that the expander is already too far down, so pulling it further wouldn't help. I'm soaking the inside of the steerer in ammonia and planning / hoping to get all the bits out of the top end afterwards... If that doesn't work then I'm taking the bike to the roof, smearing it with excrement, setting it on fire and throwing it off in front of a lorry.

Last time I try to do up a geared bike.

Soaked in ammonia, soaked in coca-cola, twisted, hammered, hammered some more, sworn at.

Finally admitted defeat, pushed the expander nut back up and did it up again (arguably unnecessary, as the stem is welded in there permanently). I'll just have to strip the frame with the stem in place.

if you sawed straight through the stem would you not just be able to pull the stem and forks away from the frame?

I just had this nightmare as a bike a bought off ebay was in the same way.
I cut the stem below the curve in the neck so I could then undo the headset and drop the forks out.
It then was a labourious task of cutting the remaining part of the stem out with a hack saw blade.

At least you did it. What bike did you buy, Tim?

Just a cheeky Donohue winter trainer for the longer commute and some weekend miles.
653 frame and has handy m/guards bosses.

Might head to wests later but you wont see it as I'm on Charles.

Nice one.

It would be nice to see you & Charles later, I have something cool (which I think is cool) to tell you