Garth, I had this same problem with a Cinelli stem stuck in a friend's 1980ish Eddy Merckx (pics of that bike to try to confirm year will be coming to the List soon, btw). Kroil, the CR list "darling" of releasing seized parts, had zero effect after many applications, and a couple of weeks. This is what worked for me:
Turn the bike upside down in the stand, and take a piece of wood about 3 to 4 feet long, and cut a recess or cup in one end of it. Put the wood under the top tube, at its junction to the top of the upper head lug (which is now upside down) with the wood "cup" cradling the top tube (be sure to pad well if paint is an issue, just in case), and the bottom of the piece of wood resting firmly on the floor. Now take another length of wood about 12-18" long, and again, cut a cup into one end, but a bit smaller this time. Hold that cup end of the smaller piece of wood pointing down, and cradle it down on top of and in the bend of the underside of the stem (which is upside down, remember). Now use a hammer to the wood, to give gentle, repetitive "taps" down onto the stem. It helps to try to direct the larger "brace" wood, and the "driver" wood, in a line that the quill will need to begin sliding out of the steer tube. Patience, persistence, and perhaps a bit of guts will eventually allow you to drive the stem out. I found that gentle was not quite enough and had to hammer a bit more convincingly, but its better to start easy and grow more extreme as necessary. It certainly helps to have two people, with one on the drive wood, and one on the brace wood. This has worked twice for me (the other time with a Cinelli stem stuck in a Viner frame). Last note is to watch for the stems ultimate full release, so that the whole steering assembly does not suddenly go flying down into the floor. I was careful when doing this, because I didn't know if it would do damage to the underside of the stem, or the top tube lug junction, but both times, it all worked well with no damage to either. Results may vary, and I cannot guarantee the protection of the parts, but it worked for me. If this description is unclear, I can probably make a mockup scenario and take a photo, but it wouldn't be right away. hope this helps...
Ciao, Mark Agree Southfield MI ~ ~ ~
Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 16:55:04 -0400 From: Bianca Pratorius <biankita@comcast.net> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Subject: [CR]Beautiful rare valuable stem stuck in crap bike.
A local bike shop owner wants to gift me a TTT pantographed Colnago stem in the perfect 10 cm size that I use. The pantographing seems unusual in that it is a shade deeper into the aluminum surface. The stem is stuck in one of those crack addict's bikes. This one is an old ALAN that has a crack in the headtube, part of the seat lug cracked off on the tightening fixture, a crack in the downtube, a bent crank, rusted and corroded Zeus brakes, etc. The only things worth saving are the SR headset and the stem. Wouldn't you know it, some jerk apparently hammered the wrong size stem into the steerer tube? We have had it soaking in every kind of thing for two days and we can't even turn it one bit no less get it out. I tried sticking a solid metal rod into the fork from underneath and tapping it to break the stem loose. Even that won't work. Short of cutting the head tube and then cutting the fork in half what might be done. The shop owner says a torch, but this qualifies as a special case because the stem is aluminum and so is the pitifull frame.
Garth Libre in Miami Fl USA
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