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

Coke worked for me.

Plusgas

Coke worked for me.

How long did you leave it in coke?

You're taking pretty high concentrations to dissolve a quill.
Don't drop it on the floor or anywhere.
Try taking it to your LBS, they'll be able to handle it without acid.
Pretty sure there are other ways, tried unscrewing the bolt nearly all the way an then wacking it with a hammer?

Already taken it to one shop and they couldn't get it out. I've got the bolt out and the wedge has dropped. Its stuck because the ali has reacted with the steel so i need to find some way to break that bond. I'll try the coke then the heating and oiling and update.

I'd be very cautious about using sulphuric acid by any name.

Coke often appears as part of home brewed rust treatment recipes - the active component is usually accepted as phosphoric acid, available as a concentrate in the form of dishwasher descaler (http://www.kilrock.co.uk/productDetail.asp?PID=9532&categoryID=1858 I bought mine from Aldi)

Used with rubber gloves and eye protection, scrubbing at rusted components with aluminium foil worked quite well, with any remaining rust converted to stable black iron oxide and much of the aluminium dissolving.

However.

Safety is important - protective clothing and glasses, bucket of water to hand to dilute spills, much rinsing afterwards (dilute acid in the drain shouldn't be a problem if it's sold as a dishwasher descaler?) and be aware that any splashes will cause staining. It cost me a pair of trainers and discoloured patio flags to learn this.

So.

Remove as much as possible by mechanical methods (hacksaw, dremel etc)
Clamp the frame so gravity does not work against you in dribbles and runs.
Inspect frequently - most acids will attack steel, you are relying on the alloy going first
Rinse lots afterwards. Then rinse more and dry.
Accept that paint is likely to be discoloured or removed by any chemical that dissovles metals.

Personally I'd use hacksaw, drill, dremel and heat to avoid the whole H&S issue...

How long did you leave it in coke?

Overnight, then It pretty much came out with a good twist.

Back in the 'ol days it was cheap warm Cola (Phosphoric Acid), dilute Ammonia (5%-10%) and heat/cold (alu stem in steel frame)...
A number of products for handling siezed objects now seem on the market.. Wera "High Tech Screw Release" comes to mind...Patience and luck are, I think, key... You need to watch out with force as too much can buldge the fork's steer tube.

Its out!! Its bloody well out! So in the end i tried ammonia soaked for 2 days. No difference. Then coke for 2 days. No difference. Then GT85 for 2 days. No difference. Then i tried heating it with a propane torch then freezing it with plumbers pipe freeze and then heating it again. After that had cooled i clamped it in a vice and i could move it about 1mm back and forth. Slowly after about half an hour of wiggling and spraying it with WD40 it started to move a bit more and eventually managed to extract the whole thing. Stem and forks both intact!! I couldn't see any evidence that any of the soaking had penertrated in to the corrosion so in this case i think it was the heat that did it.

Its out!! Its bloody well out!

Well done.

In my younger days, my stem reacted like yours. An even older fellow club cyclists to me to do the following.
Tape over hole left by bolt, torn bike upside down, remove wheel and if applicable the mudguard exposing stem hole ( if you see what I mean) fill hole/ stem with vinegar. Leave at least 12 hrs, longer the better, drain vinegar, turn bike over twist stem and apply upward force. Stem should slowly free as acid will have broken reaction joint. If not repeat!

I recently installed a Nitto Pearl stem on my bike.

I couldn't get the expander bolt tight enough so I loosened it up to try and re install. The stem came out minus the wedge.

Any advice on what I should do. Do I need to take the fork off to get it out?

turn the bike upside down ?

yup that did the trick.

panicked there for a sec.

thanks!

does anyone have some plusgas i can borrow in SE London?
i have a stuck stem and its really fucking annoying.

can you get some diesel? Maybe just shake some out of a pump into a jamjar or something equally socially irresponsible?

does that work?
im leaving my steerer filled with coke tongiht and will see how that does by tomorrow evening

just go to a petrol station, take the diesel pump out of the holder and drip some diesel onto the stem and the stem bolt, you don't need much. leave it overnight, loosen the bolt in the morning, tap it down, and twist the bars.
If that doesn't work you have serious corrosion, then it's plan b.

^^ apparently so, diesel is a very very thin lube.

The expander and bolt is out entirely.
Just the quill part is stuck now.

I'll try this diesel business at some point.
See how the coke does and then diesel.
Then plus gas.

Then cut and drill

ok, so I've had this Carlton for a while

Got it cheap and love it but the stem is stuck. Well and truly stuck. And the hex key fitting on the expander bolt is rounded off (and seemingly made of cheese)- I guess from someones previous attempt to move the stem. So I can't loosen it at all, and I'm guessing the stem is stuck because of galvanic corrosion between the aluminium stem and steel fork.

I've tried wd40 (lots, then some more), and I've tried soaking in coke for a few days, but it will not budge at all. The bike rides fine but it but it does bug me, and I would like to get it free if at all possible.

So what do people think? Do I leave it and learn to live with it? Try heating it up/cooling it down, heating again etc? Take it to a LBS/frame builder (any recommended in London than are good at this sort of thing)? Anything else? Bearing in mind that the hex fitting on the expander is rounded off so I can't apply any force to loosen it at all.

I don't mind sacrificing the stem but I obviously don't wan't to damage the frame or forks by too much twisting.

Thanks

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If you don't mind sacrificing the stem, then you could cut the top section off with a hacksaw, leaving a column inside the steerer, with the remains of the expander bolt. Tap the remains of the bolt downwards to free the expander wedge, then get a stillson on the remains of the stem to twist it free.

I'd try drilling out the bolt first though, as you may be able to save the stem and only need a new expander bolt.

If you don't mind sacrificing the stem, then you could cut the top section off with a hacksaw, leaving a column inside the steerer, with the remains of the expander bolt. Tap the remains of the bolt downwards to free the expander wedge, then get a stillson on the remains of the stem to twist it free.

I'd try drilling out the bolt first though, as you may be able to save the stem and only need a new expander bolt.

Ok, thanks. Guess I'll be giving this a go then.

That's a freaking dope bike!

2 options:

1) get a dremel like tool and cut 2 notches into the bolt so you can use a flat head screw driver on it (use something to get good leverage on it)

2) find a screw extractor for a power drill, it has a reverse thread so when you push it into the stripped area it will bind to the metal, obviously use a low rpm/high torque setting on the drill

Hi all,

Probably not the first stuck handlebar stem question on here.
So the handlebar stem on a Colnago I'm stripping is stuck. I mean properly stuck. I've tried inscrewing the bolt half an inch and 'tapping' it with a hammer, but even after applying considerable force it remains completely immobile. I've tried pouring coke into it, WD40 and ammonia. All to no avail.

Am I missing something? Are there any other hints or ways of going about this?

Any help is much appreciated!