I've run into problems with VAR and Campy fork tools hanging up on steerers myself. It never occurred to me until you mentioned it, I never considered the possibility of a bulged tube from a stem expander. A lot of production bikes used cheap quality steering tubes to save a few cents. I always figured the tubes were out of round or something like that because there were no obvious bulges.
The steerer on the fork that I bought on eBay was bulged 1mm-2mm and showed signs that someone tried to remove it by heating the tube with a torch and hammering it down with a chisel.
These are some eBay pictures of the fork:
To fix the bulge my friend used some 1" ID steel blocks similar these aluminum Bicycle Research blocks in the link below, but longer. He put them in a large heavy duty milling machine vise that held them parallel. In a few seconds the job was done. The bulge was about an inch or so below the threads.
http://www.bicycleresearchtools.com/
This is a pictorial of how these blocks work on a dented frame tube:
http://www.kichline.com/
Chas. Colerich Oakland, CA USA
Otis Greer wrote:
> Not wanting to jump planes, but, I have the Var 33-25.4 shop size head stem threader and and crown race cutter. I've found several of my French 531 steer tubes have a slight bulge where the stem wedge was pulled too tight. The Var guide, 2 1/2 inches long will not slid over the bulge in one case and another couple were a force slid, not a hammer use deal for sure. After they get by the bulge, it loosens back up. Is there any way to shrink these bulges with out replacing the tube? Thanks,
> Dickey Greer
> West Monroe,LA ~ USA