Hi i am rebuilding my road bike after a meeting with a post boy and a lamp post, and have just bought a new cartridge head set, but i cant get the old cup off.
Is there a trick to this ???

Neil

search for the home made tools thread, I think there is a puctire in there of a DIY cup remover using a piece of copper pipe.

I used a flat screwdriver, hammer, and gently tap-tap-tapped it out.

Here's a link to the Park tool designed for this:

https://www.parktool.com/products/big...5729_84414.jpg

I just bought cup removal tool from nashbar $15. Installation tool can be homemade for around $10. A bolt, 2 nuts, couple of brass fittings and steel washers. My experience was the homemade tool works like a charm. I only seated one cup at a time. Go slow and carefully making sure they go in evenly. If you ovalize (sp) the frame the frame is toast. There are a lot of posts about this design. Haven't yet had to set a the race on the steerer tube, but there are a also lot of posts on how to do it with homemade tools.

Good luck

Buy or make yourself something like this ......

I don't like using a screwdriver because I don't like doing stuff like that to my tools. But I use a length of 1/2 inch steel bar or a long drift pin punch all the time.

Caloso didn't say HOW he tapped it out. It's important that you tap one side of the cup and then move to the other and tap there. Keep going back and forth using GENTLE tappings of the hammer on the pin or bar to walk the cup out in steps so that the angle stays small and almost invisible. This whole process SHOULD take you about 20 to 30 times back and forth before it falls out into the waiting towel you have placed on a stool under the cup to avoid it rolling away to another dimension under the bench... Or just put a loose bit of string or other such thing through the head tube before you start so the cups stay in the loop of string or soft wire or whatever.

+1!

That's exactly right, except for the string. Which is pure genius, by the way. And yes, it was an old screwdriver that I keep around for just such purposes and not as a screwdriver.

It's best to use a brass drift(bar) to do the tapping. If you get a little over zealous with the hammer, the brass will deform before the cup. It works like a shock absorber.
To remove the crown race, get a thin bladed screwdriver and tap between the crown and race. Alternate from side to side, and go around the whole circumference.
go slow, tap lightly, the bike you save may be your own.
The sound will change when it get close to falling out. When the sound changes go slower and lighter.

Brass would be an excellent option if you have it but I've had good results with mild steel. At least on the cups were the bearings run directly in the cup since those cups are hardened.

On sets with sealed bearings and aluminium cups you're pretty much stuck with the risk of damage so that's where the light touch comes in. Using a length of aluminium rod as the drift would help to minimise the risk or at least reduce the bruising on the cups.

I've also seen folks make up a tube remover similar to the ones shown above but using white PVC water pipe. A few saw cuts and some rag to force the fingers to spread a little and you're ready. However it's a toss up if the cup comes out or the plastic shatters if the cup is tight. Certainly the ends get badly chewed up and it's pretty much a one or two use tool. But hey, it only takes a few minutes to make one and if it does the job.....

Thanks for the help, 2 hours later and they finally popped out
Neil

I made one of these from 3/4" PVC pipe, cutting about 3" longitudinal cuts at 90° and dipping the cut end in boiling water to let me spread it wide enough to be a firm "snap fit" in the head tube. It worked great for one headset removal and failed miserably with another.