jeirvine 

I have a pair of barcons where the expander bolts are quite frozen, and they are stuck in some nice handlebars. before I drill them out, does anyone have any tricks on removing them? I have soaked in penetrating oil, but they aren't budging. Heat maybe?
Thanks,
-J

puchfinnland

try Heat John,
heatgun, check the plastic content-you dont want to melt anything important.

have you tried turning the screw slightly the other way?

sometimes if you can wiggle the screw just a touch it is a good start.

Citoyen du Monde

I hope that you are aware that most brands of barcons thread in reverse to what would seem to be natural. So perhaps instead of attempting to loosen, you have been tightening even more that previously. What brand do you have?

simmonsgc

+1 -- I think of it this way: The hex you are looking at is the BOTTOM of the bolt instead of the top. So, effectively, you are standing at the bottom of the threaded hole, looking up. It's not reverse threaded, you're just turning it from the bottom. So, clockwise to loosen (push the bolt forward, OUT of the threaded hole).

lostarchitect 

+1. I have done this. Doh.

If that's not the issue, I'd try Freeze-Off.

bigbossman 

Drill a hole in the center of the bar. Trickle in some black powder, fuse it, light it, run away. They'll pop right out.

jeirvine 

They are Suntour, and yeah they loosen clockwise. I think I may try freezing or heat. But the allen hex sockets have now become fairly stripped from the attempts to unscrew (and I've also tried the other way just to get them unstuck.) I'd like to save the bars, and the pod housings if possible, so black powder is out. I may just drill 'em if the temperature attempts fail, that way it's just the bolts sacrificed. Thanks all.

jeirvine 

Oh the humanity!!

KvltBryce

Velognome 

It's like "Silence of the Lambs" .......but worse.

Epicus07

have you tried turning the body instead of the bolt? you can actually pull them this way and i find that it actually provides much more leverage.

jeirvine 

Bingo! This worked like a charm. Not sure why I didn't try this suggestion earlier. Thanks a lot. I used a punch as a handle to turn the body counter-clockwise, and both just screwed right off (after having soaked in penetrating oil for some time.)

mparker326

From the pic, I can see why they were stuck.

frantik

Totally read this as "frozen bacon pods"

Jeff Wills

Bacon!!! Start hoarding now: https://newsfeed.time.com/2012/09/26/...age-is-coming/

The Golden Boy 

I'm glad you got them out- I would throw out the "big ****ing hammer" method.

Epicus07

You are most welcome. I was in a similar position a month or two ago and someone mentioned that on the forums. Glad to share the love.

simmonsgc

Good lord! Were those bars drilled for internal cable routing or something? Or maybe the PO insisted on parking it upside down in the rain? Those are some rusted fixing bolts.

jeirvine 

Nope, just humid mid-atlantic climate I suppose. The bars and stem are just fine. The fixing bolts did end up unscrewing from the pod bodies: held the end in a vise and turned the body counterclockwise. So I was able to disassemble everything with no destruction, though I definitely won't be using the bolts again.

dougdunn

Once you get the barcon off the bars, use a vise and vise-grips to pull the bolt. Should come out easily with that leverage. If not, it is seized metal to metal - throw it away! But, once you get it out, coat with grease and thread in and out several times. Then pull, clean with degreaser and coat with anit-seize. Thread in and out again several times and re-mount. It won't seize again. Tip - wear latex gloves. The anti-seize can really irritate skin.