Reading the propane trick for removing the made me wonder - using this technique is the temperature low enough from the heating to avoid embrittlement issues? This is a quenching technique - and if the temperature is not too high, I suppose its not an issue. But if the steerer was really heated, I suspect it could be. Could folks add some light on this? Thanks, Mike Kone
At 04:37 PM 5/11/01 -0700, Keith D. Weaver wrote:
>I just had to tell someone: I finally got the stem out of my Bianchi
>Competizione. I've been working on it sporadically for at least six
>months. I soaked it in Liquid Wrench, in Coca-Cola and was about to try
>ammonia. I have to thank Roland DellaSanta, a local framebuilder, for the
>final solution. I sawed off the extension, disassembled the headset,
>pulled out the fork and heated the stem and steer tube with a propane
>torch until the old grease and corrosion inside started smoking. I then
>plunged the whole thing into a bucket of water. A few twists with the
>Vise-grips, and the offending stem was finally free, after at least 15
>years. The moral of this story: always, always grease the stem! I hope
>this can help others with the same predicament. Now it's time for me to
>get a Nitto technomic stem and some bars wider than 40 cm.
>
>Keith Weaver, in stormy Reno (over an inch of snow this afternoon!)
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