Antifreeze to loosen stuck stem?

A local bike shop suggested using antifreeze as a penetrating
lubricant to free an aluminum stem stuck in a steel fork. I've
never heard of the method and wondered if anybody here has
experience with it.

The bike is an old Cannondale with the original steel fork. The
stem is Technomics, unmoved for far too many years. I've soaked
the stem in pentrating oil and also tried automatic transmission
fluid thinned with acetone, I have not yet tried heating it since
the only surface accessible is that of the stem. That will be
tried, but I'm not holding my breath:

I managed to get a gear puller on it from underneath, using a
loop of chain around the hips of the fork for purchase, which
worked quite well. Alas, tightening the puller and rapping on it
with a hammper hard enough to dent a 3/8" nut used as a cusion
under the puller screw yielded zero progress. The locking wedge
can't be removed (the bottom of the fork isn't bored full diameter)
so the puller bears on the wedge, which is free on the stem. That's
not ideal but there's no obvious alternative.

I'd be curious to know what ideas folks have for dealing with
this predicament. Obviously I can use destructive methods, but
other optiions are worth exploring first.


Thanks for reading, and any thoughts,

bob prohaska

the white stuff is an inorganic compound not dissolving with organic solvents.

THATS IT

THE WHITE STUFF accumulated atoms from disimmilar metals then added O2 H2O H molecules atoms into a slip fit space so if there's an inorganic solvent....say nitric acid...


how would you deliver it to the WHITE STUFF ? like ura only gonna pou a wee bit on the top pf an extremely jammed space....

heat is the answer if you can apply enough heat to expand outer withour damaging the material butbutbut remember itsnot a few threads on a nut itsa long sleeve.

toss it

next time mix linseed oil with aluminum based ant-seize. for a post lubricant.

look the Q in wikipedia.

On 8/2/2017 12:55 PM, bob prohaska wrote:
A local bike shop suggested using antifreeze as a penetrating
lubricant to free an aluminum stem stuck in a steel fork. I've
never heard of the method and wondered if anybody here has
experience with it.

The bike is an old Cannondale with the original steel fork. The
stem is Technomics, unmoved for far too many years. I've soaked
the stem in pentrating oil and also tried automatic transmission
fluid thinned with acetone, I have not yet tried heating it since
the only surface accessible is that of the stem. That will be
tried, but I'm not holding my breath:

I managed to get a gear puller on it from underneath, using a
loop of chain around the hips of the fork for purchase, which
worked quite well. Alas, tightening the puller and rapping on it
with a hammper hard enough to dent a 3/8" nut used as a cusion
under the puller screw yielded zero progress. The locking wedge
can't be removed (the bottom of the fork isn't bored full diameter)
so the puller bears on the wedge, which is free on the stem. That's
not ideal but there's no obvious alternative.

I'd be curious to know what ideas folks have for dealing with
this predicament. Obviously I can use destructive methods, but
other optiions are worth exploring first.


Thanks for reading, and any thoughts,

The old British car manuals called engine coolant a "seeking
fluid' in that it seeps where water will not so in theory
they may have a point. I don't know if it would be an
improvement over GM-Delco penetrant or ammonia.

In practice, since you haven't moved it with normal methods,
we would cut the stem, drop the fork and extract the stump:
http://www.yellowjersey.org/stkromi2.jpg


--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Wednesday, August 2, 2017 at 12:41:50 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 8/2/2017 12:55 PM, bob prohaska wrote:
A local bike shop suggested using antifreeze as a penetrating
lubricant to free an aluminum stem stuck in a steel fork. I've
never heard of the method and wondered if anybody here has
experience with it.

The bike is an old Cannondale with the original steel fork. The
stem is Technomics, unmoved for far too many years. I've soaked
the stem in pentrating oil and also tried automatic transmission
fluid thinned with acetone, I have not yet tried heating it since
the only surface accessible is that of the stem. That will be
tried, but I'm not holding my breath:

I managed to get a gear puller on it from underneath, using a
loop of chain around the hips of the fork for purchase, which
worked quite well. Alas, tightening the puller and rapping on it
with a hammper hard enough to dent a 3/8" nut used as a cusion
under the puller screw yielded zero progress. The locking wedge
can't be removed (the bottom of the fork isn't bored full diameter)
so the puller bears on the wedge, which is free on the stem. That's
not ideal but there's no obvious alternative.

I'd be curious to know what ideas folks have for dealing with
this predicament. Obviously I can use destructive methods, but
other optiions are worth exploring first.


Thanks for reading, and any thoughts,

The old British car manuals called engine coolant a "seeking
fluid' in that it seeps where water will not so in theory
they may have a point. I don't know if it would be an
improvement over GM-Delco penetrant or ammonia.

This is an attempt to blame the oil (in this case coolant) for leaking instead of themselves for their quality standards

On 8/2/2017 3:58 PM, Doug Landau wrote:
On Wednesday, August 2, 2017 at 12:41:50 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 8/2/2017 12:55 PM, bob prohaska wrote:
A local bike shop suggested using antifreeze as a penetrating
lubricant to free an aluminum stem stuck in a steel fork. I've
never heard of the method and wondered if anybody here has
experience with it.

The bike is an old Cannondale with the original steel fork. The
stem is Technomics, unmoved for far too many years. I've soaked
the stem in pentrating oil and also tried automatic transmission
fluid thinned with acetone, I have not yet tried heating it since
the only surface accessible is that of the stem. That will be
tried, but I'm not holding my breath:

I managed to get a gear puller on it from underneath, using a
loop of chain around the hips of the fork for purchase, which
worked quite well. Alas, tightening the puller and rapping on it
with a hammper hard enough to dent a 3/8" nut used as a cusion
under the puller screw yielded zero progress. The locking wedge
can't be removed (the bottom of the fork isn't bored full diameter)
so the puller bears on the wedge, which is free on the stem. That's
not ideal but there's no obvious alternative.

I'd be curious to know what ideas folks have for dealing with
this predicament. Obviously I can use destructive methods, but
other optiions are worth exploring first.


Thanks for reading, and any thoughts,

The old British car manuals called engine coolant a "seeking
fluid' in that it seeps where water will not so in theory
they may have a point. I don't know if it would be an
improvement over GM-Delco penetrant or ammonia.

This is an attempt to blame the oil (in this case coolant) for leaking instead of themselves for their quality standards


As the pithy Carroll Smith observed in _Prepare to Win_, the
opening paragraph on cooling systems reads, "Find every
clamp which says 'Made in England' and throw them away".

--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org/
Open every day since 1 April, 1971

On Wednesday, August 2, 2017 at 2:19:50 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 8/2/2017 3:58 PM, Doug Landau wrote:
On Wednesday, August 2, 2017 at 12:41:50 PM UTC-7, AMuzi wrote:
On 8/2/2017 12:55 PM, bob prohaska wrote:
A local bike shop suggested using antifreeze as a penetrating
lubricant to free an aluminum stem stuck in a steel fork. I've
never heard of the method and wondered if anybody here has
experience with it.

The bike is an old Cannondale with the original steel fork. The
stem is Technomics, unmoved for far too many years. I've soaked
the stem in pentrating oil and also tried automatic transmission
fluid thinned with acetone, I have not yet tried heating it since
the only surface accessible is that of the stem. That will be
tried, but I'm not holding my breath:

I managed to get a gear puller on it from underneath, using a
loop of chain around the hips of the fork for purchase, which
worked quite well. Alas, tightening the puller and rapping on it
with a hammper hard enough to dent a 3/8" nut used as a cusion
under the puller screw yielded zero progress. The locking wedge
can't be removed (the bottom of the fork isn't bored full diameter)
so the puller bears on the wedge, which is free on the stem. That's
not ideal but there's no obvious alternative.

I'd be curious to know what ideas folks have for dealing with
this predicament. Obviously I can use destructive methods, but
other optiions are worth exploring first.


Thanks for reading, and any thoughts,

The old British car manuals called engine coolant a "seeking
fluid' in that it seeps where water will not so in theory
they may have a point. I don't know if it would be an
improvement over GM-Delco penetrant or ammonia.

This is an attempt to blame the oil (in this case coolant) for leaking instead of themselves for their quality standards


As the pithy Carroll Smith observed in _Prepare to Win_, the
opening paragraph on cooling systems reads, "Find every
clamp which says 'Made in England' and throw them away".

And you think sms hasn't found a defective spring. Coat hangers are not springy.

The old grease gin given me refused the last zerk. N no positive lock...struggle.

Dump.

Bought a Lucas from Amazone. Reluctantly.

Prob made in Vermont.

Super
..
serious positive zerk lock no hands n very measured squeeze grip ouput.

Lucas knee how mah

Prince of Darkness

On Wed, 2 Aug 2017 17:55:21 -0000 (UTC), bob prohaska
wrote:

A local bike shop suggested using antifreeze as a penetrating
lubricant to free an aluminum stem stuck in a steel fork. I've
never heard of the method and wondered if anybody here has
experience with it.

The bike is an old Cannondale with the original steel fork. The
stem is Technomics, unmoved for far too many years. I've soaked
the stem in pentrating oil and also tried automatic transmission
fluid thinned with acetone, I have not yet tried heating it since
the only surface accessible is that of the stem. That will be
tried, but I'm not holding my breath:

I managed to get a gear puller on it from underneath, using a
loop of chain around the hips of the fork for purchase, which
worked quite well. Alas, tightening the puller and rapping on it
with a hammper hard enough to dent a 3/8" nut used as a cusion
under the puller screw yielded zero progress. The locking wedge
can't be removed (the bottom of the fork isn't bored full diameter)
so the puller bears on the wedge, which is free on the stem. That's
not ideal but there's no obvious alternative.

I'd be curious to know what ideas folks have for dealing with
this predicament. Obviously I can use destructive methods, but
other optiions are worth exploring first.


Thanks for reading, and any thoughts,

bob prohaska


Some years ago I bought a second(3rd? 4th? 5th?) hand bike with a
frozen seat post which I spent some time removing. Ultimately I made a
"drill bit" and bored the thing out and after this I found that there
were thin slivers of aluminum that were "welded" to the inside of the
seat tube apparently by corrosion between the aluminum post and the
steel tube that required removal with a special hone (that I also had
to manufacture :-(

I suspect that in extreme cases there is no penetrating fluid that
will loosen an aluminum *whatisit* in a steel tube. I have seen
mention of using a lye mix to "eat" aluminum out of a steel tube but
have not tried it myself.

--
Cheers,

John B.

On Wed, 02 Aug 2017 14:41:46 -0500, AMuzi wrote:

On 8/2/2017 12:55 PM, bob prohaska wrote:
A local bike shop suggested using antifreeze as a penetrating
lubricant to free an aluminum stem stuck in a steel fork. I've
never heard of the method and wondered if anybody here has
experience with it.

The bike is an old Cannondale with the original steel fork. The
stem is Technomics, unmoved for far too many years. I've soaked
the stem in pentrating oil and also tried automatic transmission
fluid thinned with acetone, I have not yet tried heating it since
the only surface accessible is that of the stem. That will be
tried, but I'm not holding my breath:

I managed to get a gear puller on it from underneath, using a
loop of chain around the hips of the fork for purchase, which
worked quite well. Alas, tightening the puller and rapping on it
with a hammper hard enough to dent a 3/8" nut used as a cusion
under the puller screw yielded zero progress. The locking wedge
can't be removed (the bottom of the fork isn't bored full diameter)
so the puller bears on the wedge, which is free on the stem. That's
not ideal but there's no obvious alternative.

I'd be curious to know what ideas folks have for dealing with
this predicament. Obviously I can use destructive methods, but
other optiions are worth exploring first.


Thanks for reading, and any thoughts,

The old British car manuals called engine coolant a "seeking
fluid' in that it seeps where water will not so in theory
they may have a point. I don't know if it would be an
improvement over GM-Delco penetrant or ammonia.

In practice, since you haven't moved it with normal methods,
we would cut the stem, drop the fork and extract the stump:
http://www.yellowjersey.org/stkromi2.jpg

I remember my mother's car developed troubles and the mechanic
diagnosed it as a leaking head gasket. When asked why the gasket had
not leaked during the past summer he explained that "anti-freeze",
ethylene-glycol in this case, would "find leaks that water couldn't".

As the problem went away and never returned with the replacement of
the gasket apparently the mechanic was correct.
--
Cheers,

John B.

https://www.biketoolsetc.com/index.cgi