Starting to assemble my dad's Carlton acquired a good bit of parts having issue with the stem fit. I purchased a new 22.2 quill stem it is what I measured with the calipers from the original stem size. When I removed the original I fought getting it out of the fork steer for a solid 2 hours.... I originally thought it was due to chemical bonding but thinking it was to big and forced in. The new stem with a 22.2 diameter in no way going to fit without beating it in, the fork steer measures 21.7 mm ??? I know a quill stem of 21.15 mm is available will this be to small ??

Not sure what I should do I like the stem I purchased and the new bars I bought to fit... Chances of finding a correct stem to fit the bar clamp I don't know. Can the new stem and wedge be machined down ??

KF

you can easily sand down stem quills and seatposts with a 200 grade sandpaper. you may need to deanodize the component first using oven off or a similar product with lye.

i did this recently for a seatpost, and it worked just fine. i'll use it in the frame, but i went a little too far with the sanding. the problem was, i used a low grade paper and kept trying the post in the frame, moving back and forth between sanding and fitting until it fit snuggly. but then i needed to use a higher grade paper to remove the scratches from the rough stuff. by the time i finished sanding the scracthes out of the post, i had taken even more diameter off, and it slipped in the frame a little too well. so i should have stopped with the rough sanding much earlier. it works, but i would prefer a more snug fit.

The difference between 22.2mm and 21.7mm is .5mm or .020". On a cyclindrical workpiece, that would be a cut of .010". Easy-peasey work for a metal lathe but a lot of sanding by hand, and hand sanding would likely result in an out-of-round part. Problem with doing it in a lathe is that the stem is an odd shape so is hard to hold in the lathe chuck without special fixturing and setup. A good machinist could do it but would probably charge more that you'd want to spend unless he were a hobbyist who really got interested in the project. Machine shop time is billed at about $100 and hour. Might be easier to find a shop that can ream the steerer tube with an adjustable parallel reamer.

You can't return the stem and bars where you bought them?

Got it figured out. The inside of the steerer tube had a bit of a lip formed on the inside somehow. A little work with a round file on the steerer and some light sanding of the quill where i scratched it trying to install it the first time and it is a nice easy fit.

Thanks everyone for always helping me figure it out.

KF