Help with seized stem! Been cut though...

my old forks had a stem seized into then, i thought they where bent so i didnt care about them, so i cut the stem and now theses about a 1" bit of stem seized into the forks now.

soon after i realised im an idiot and the forks are straight, so now i need to knock the little metal piece out of the forks some how.... but my question is, if i cant remove it and just cut it off flush with the forks, would it be ok to put the headset and stem on but just leave the star nut and top cap off?

You really need the star-fangled nut and top cap to compress the headset stack, otherwise you'll get play in the steering, but like everything in life, you can do it, but it won't be perfect.

There are a lot of theads on seized forks, and a lot of good recommendations for what you should do. Have a search - I drilled mine, but you need a big drillbit.

Quill stem is seized in the steerer, but OP mentions top-caps and star-fangled nuts.. eh?
What methods have you used? Have you tried whacking it out from the underside?
Final solution - Drill the thing out as much as possible, then dissolve with caustic soda.
http://www.londonfgss.com/thread3816.html
Search.

Like provenrad said . . . what is going on here a quill stem or a A-head stem ?

You really need the star-fangled nut and top cap to compress the headset stack.

You can do it without a SFN + top cap if you use a beartrap or a Ring-Go-Star.

And these kind of external headset compressors/tensioners don't care whether you have jammed something down the steerer tube or not.

. . . but this brings us back to the fundamental question . . what are you doing putting a A-head stem (+SFN/top cap) on a steerer that you were previously using a quill stem on ?

. . . unless you are going to be using a weird and exotic 1" Ahead . .

Mysterious.

I'm guessing a fork transplant from one bike to another with a shorter headtube. That way they'd be able to use the forks (albeit with a 1 1/8" to 1" converter) with an ahead setup, using the extra steerer length. Either that or they've got one hell of a lot of spacers on their existing threaded setup.

well i thought id have to use an a-head stem, but if i can get it out i will be using a quill stem, i have tried wd40, a monkey wrench with forks in a vice, smacking it underneath with a steel pole and a hammer. so then i cut it so i could use the frame, but now to save cash i want to use the forks....i read on some others to pour coke down it but i dont see how this will work, i think i will just drill it out. it sounds simple enouh.

Go to the steerer with a blow torch of some kind and evenly heat around the seized bit of stem, the steerer should heat up faster than the stem and expand quicker, breaking the seizure and resulting in the stem dropping out!!

Wrong, wrong, wrong.. alloy melts at what 600 degrees, steel melts at 1200?

What i is sayin is that all you'll achieve is expanding the alloy inside the steel, if it were t'other way round then it would work.

Get down your local hardwear store and ask for caustic soda, make up a solution in a bucket/jar stick your fork steerer in and leave for a week, the solution will eat away the alloy, but not harm the steel.. bingo.

fair point didnt read the post correctly:) yeah what he said

Wait, if you used to have an ahead stem then how is there anything stuck INSIDE your fork?
And if you can't get it out then how are you going to use a quill stem which fits inside the steerer tube?
Did you mean you used to have a quill stem and if you cant get it out you will use an ahead stem?
How will you do this unless you have moved the forks to a frame with a much shorter headtube?

When this happened to me, I cut the quill stem off level with the headset allowing me to remove the fork. Using lots of WD40 gradually soaking the stem/steerer I was able to remove the quill stem by placing a pole inside the steerer and whilst holding on to the fork legs, smacking the pole against the floor, after about 10 mins of this the remaining piece of the quill then popped out.

Ollie

I have a reluctant stem at the moment, i've cut it in halves and the top bit broke away but the rest is truly seized, I've been pouring a caustic down it outside and watching it fizz like mad, hopefully this will sort it.