Dodgy Stem

cant get my stock stem off, anyone know how to? previous experiance?
its probably rusted or something.

looks like this

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/aa/Quill_stem_1.JPG/800px-Quill_stem_1.JPG

basically just wont budge, oil lubricated and wd40'd aswell

any ideas?

have you tapped the top down (not too hard) with a mallet?

Undo the allen bolt til it's loose (don't overdo this or you'll lose the bottom of the stem in the head tube). Then as Alkali says, a tap on the bolt will push it down and release. Be sure to re-grease before re-assembling as all that WD40 will have dried it all out.

Oh and consider the merits of mechanics at 2am on a Sunday morning.

This is the first and almost certainly the last time that this particular dunce will pass on any mechanical advice on this forum.

Yeah i've tried knocking it down slightly, tried twisting it off but i can see the fork bending, ive taken the whole screw off, and im able to see pretty much down the stem =/ and i can tighten it back on after taking it off, but i'll try screwing it on a bit and then knocking the screw down, hopefully it would work,

Would you suggest i knock it down with or without the front wheel on?

put the screw back in until it's protruding about 5mm or so, front wheel in the bike will be fine. a sharp tap to the top of the screw and you're sorted. there's a wedge device in the bottom of the stem that's staying in place even after you've removed the bolt, this is normal, get hammering.

cheers guys, worked a treat haha

balls, just cracked a thomson elite faceplate. didnt use a torque wrench but must have over done it..

balls, just cracked a thomson elite faceplate. didnt use a torque wrench but must have over done it..

did it crack as you were tightening it? are you, in your spare time, conan the barbarian?!

It's pretty hard to do that. Is it an old stem? I might consider contacting thomson unless you're pretty sure it was your fault.

yes when i was tightening it. I didnt think i had over done it at all and i did each bolt evenly (or thought i had) was very surprised when it went. Will contact thomson, a quick google reveals quite a few cracked ones have been reported

i've had no luck getting a replacement faceplate from Thomson. Does anyone know where I can get one? It's the 25.4 one i need...

i had a similar issue with the face plate of my thomson x4 MTB stem
faceplate cracked and the small allen key bolts to tighten the face plate pulled through the stem / damaged the threading / metal ... i am sure there was some user error involved but i won't be buying any more thomson parts they are obviouly well engineered but a bit to finely engineered in my eyes, i subsequently bought and easton vice stem and they feel much chunkier more solidly engineered

on the plus side i have a very fancy doorknocker on the offing !