Velosophy

Sawzall made short work of 60yo alum stem

Chombi1 

Just leave it dipped in lye to melt it off the steerer tube. I never did such, but my brother did when he could not get a stem off one of his bikes. He said he left it dipped in lye and the next morning, the stump of the stem stuck in the steerer literally just disappeared into the lye and the steerer tube was totally unharmed. Just be careful and wear protective gear when handling such corrosive

Velosophy

reminds me of Fight Club.
i have it plugged and filled with atc and paint thinner. I’ll leave it for a few days and see what happens. If it won’t release I’ll have to drill it out same as the cottered cranks

non-fixie 

I had the same problem, and followed RJ's lead:


Bought some sodium hydroxide in the form of drain cleaner from a local DIY store. That worked very well. Took no more than a couple of hours and little effort from my part.

Before:



During:



After:

Velosophy

I have some sodium hydroxide in the chem cabinet I’ll try that next. Thanks for the tip.
drilling out is not good time

WGB 

Another option that avoids the lye is to cut the stem so that there is a big enough piece still free that you can grab it with a pair of locking pliers.

Heat the top of the steerer tube with an acetylene torch and when it gets hot, grab the hot stem and the stem will twist out.

I've used the lye trick but you can't make a mistake or you will really get hurt.

Trakhak

Whenever we ran into a seemingly immovable stem or seat post, we'd just bring the bike to the car repair place next door. Ten seconds with a pneumatic hammer, and the problem was solved.

SoCaled 

My neighbor, who is an engineer, had laughed at my struggles with a seatpost and suggested the same. I was concerned about damage to the frame/fork? I think of mechanics torquing and pounding on things attached to bulky metal frames, not delicate tubes? How would you secure the frame safely to use a pneumatic hammer?

Trakhak

I'd hold the bike up off the ground or balance it on the rear wheel at a height and an angle that made it easy for the car mechanic to direct the impact under the seat post clamp or stem. The rapid impacts would drive the piece out quickly. Firmly clamping the frame would have both dissipated some of the impact force and risked damaging the frame.

If you try this technique, you might wonder how tight your grip on the bike should be.

Answer:

bulgie 

"To a man with an oxy-propane torch, everything looks like melting job."

Melting the stem stub out is probably the fastest way. I've done it a few times, didn't time it, but I'd be surprised if it was over 5 minutes from when I turned the gas bottle valve on, to when I turned it off. Aluminum melts at a low enough temperature that you aren't harming the steel any.

If it's a short enough steerer that the paint on the crown is in danger, you can wrap the crown with wet rags, or use WetRag™But the times I did it, the steerer was long enough that there was no threat of damage to the crown. The whole process is over so quickly that the heat didn't have time to conduct that far.

Note I said oxy-propane, not the air-propane home-handyman torch. Maybe that can work too, but it'll be much slower, thus more time for heat to conduct to the crown. Maye use two of those torches, one in each hand? They're certainly cheap enough. Never tried it though. Oxy-propane is my first choice, but oxy-acetylene would also git 'er done expediently.

repechage

For others next time- cutting the stem off to allow disassembly for a stem destined to be toast…
I bought a Gran Jubilee frame and fork cheap on eBay - stem already cut. But they did leave about 7 cm exposed.
The wedge was knocked free but trapped
drilled a transverse hole in the stem and used a heavy rod as a tommy bar along with a dose of Kroil. Clamp the top of the fork near the crown in a bench vise. Turn with pipe extension to assist leverage.
all told, very fast.
extra length expands options.

r0ckh0und 

I have a bit of a collection of stuck stems that I'm going to try the lye on. I have stripped quite a few cast iron cookware pieces with lye for re-seasoning and would caution users of this method to add the lye to the water as opposed to the opposite. I also use a 50/50 water/vinegar solution to neutralize the lye after removing the piece and of course wear rubber gloves and eye protection.

Chr0m0ly 

pneumatic hammer pulled an incredibly stuck seat post from a Miyata 610 frame. It was SO stuck, once it started moving, then rotating, it STILL took the hammer to get it all they way out. It was a BEAR.

to clean out the tube afterwords I chocked a coat hanger into a drill with a wad of steel wool folded into the other end. Made a diy ball hone tool 😂

Velosophy

No shortage of fun ideas from the group!
Thanks we’ll see how it goes. Stem still soaking

VtwinVince

I've got a really stuck stem as well, am now going at it with a blow torch.

Velosophy

As if 5 minutes ago it’s in the lye, had enough fun. Thanks for posting the RJ video!

bwilli88 

I did it with a stuck seat post, worked.

Velosophy

After first lye bath. It’s in a second now

SJX426 

I used lye on a post. It was about 12 inches in the seat tube. Took several applicaitons to get it down to a tin foil state for removal.
Must do it outside as one of the byproducts of the process is hydrogen. Kinda flammable!

Have another really stuck one in about 8 inches. I have left the post with about 4 inches of exposure and soaked with the ATF/Acetone mix for several months without success.
I may go with the hacksaw next.

Velosophy

Took three lye baths, 2 overnight, but success. I would do the same thing again in the future!

randyjawa 

Stuck stem removal without chemicals (I like to keep my hobby sport green). All you need is one coarse hacksaw blade, one pair of channel locks or vice grips and a wee screwdriver to pry with. That, coupled with a half hour of your time and a bit of sweat will, absolutely, remove a stuck stem or seat post.

bulgie 

True but it takes some skill to not cut into the steerer. Risky for people without much hacksawing experience.

My "melt it out" method takes one tenth the time, and no chance of nicking the steerer. Requires a torch of course and preferably some experience using it.

More than one way to pet a cat!