dmarcoul

so im stripping down a schwinn continental, from the 70's, and i cant for the ****ing life of me, get the stem out or the headset loose - is there something special i should know? or a particular lube/oil that might work well at loosening things up?

also, the bottom bracket on that? how do i get that out?

spider-man

Is it corroded badly? Liquid Wrench is good for freeing seized threads.

Sometimes you have to tap lightly on the stem with a rubber mallet or something soft between hammer and stem.

Bikewer

Try the standard method first; back the stem bolt out enough to clear the stem by a bit, and whack it with a hammer. A lot of times the wedge will be really "wedged" in there.
You don't usually have to hit it very hard, just enough to separate the wedge from the stem proper.

aussiepug

Hello, I have a similar problem - however the wedge has separated well enouugh (well i I have managed to retreive it from the bottlom of the steerer tube).

My Problem is that the stem (alloy) seems to have fused with the steel tube. Can I just apply brute force ? Or will likely damage the bike.

So far I have tried to knock the stem with a hammer (I am replacing it and an not too concerned if I end up damageing it if thats what it takes), I have also put thin oil around the "fused" area.

Any help would be most welcome.