Originally Posted by
icemilkcoffee
I don’t totally understand what you are trying to say but in general the expander in the steerer tube cannot be pulled up out of the tube easily. It needs to be pushed down to remove it. You may have to use a wrench extension to hammer it out. Of course you need to remove the front wheel first. Is your steerer tube open from the top to the bottom?
You are corect; it designed to hold when pulled up.
As mentioned above, either push it all the way through if possible, or just push it out of the way and put a new one in.