Links to removing headsets

[easyped]

Hey Krew
I'm looking for any links to old posts out there that give good detail on tearing apart really difficult crusty old headsets. Trying to get the forks, bars and guts out of the head tube is proving to be a bear on this curbside bike.

I would like to save as much skin on my knuckles as possible and keep my BP down at the same time while NOT doing a fubar on the headtube.

Any tips, tricks and posts would be greatly appreciated on my bandito project. Thanks much!

[GregLWB]

Hey Krew
I'm looking for any links to old posts out there that give good detail on tearing apart really difficult crusty old headsets. Trying to get the forks, bars and guts out of the head tube is proving to be a bear on this curbside bike.

I would like to save as much skin on my knuckles as possible and keep my BP down at the same time while NOT doing a fubar on the headtube.

Any tips, tricks and posts would be greatly appreciated on my bandito project. Thanks much!

Do you have a pic or more details on what you have already tried?

Greg

[TheKid]

Lot's of penetrating oil is the first step. Let it soak, tap all the parts, then use a long wrench to loosen the components. In such cases, I use a large pipe wrench, and if that's not enough, I slip a pipe (persuader) on it for more leverage. Once the cap and rings are off, and it still won't come apart, I spray a whole lot more penetrating oil into the head tube and the cups, then tap the fork out. In those cases, a new head set is usually needed.

[GregLWB]

Have you already removed the stem? If not, sometimes when you loosen the bolt the wedge is stuck still and you need to hit the bolt with a mallet or something to break the wedge loose.

If you are past this step then, what Kid said.:jester:

Greg

[badcheese]

Edit: While I was typing up this long-winded answer, other people beat me to it! Oh, well, maybe there's something useful in here anyway.

This might seem obvious, but here's what has worked for me on rusty old bikes:

1. Spray it all down with good penetrating oil.

2. Give everything a bunch of gentle taps with a steel hammer, but not hard enough to dent anything. This seems to encourage the oil to find all the crevices and helps to shake some of the rust loose.

3. Let it sit for a day.

4. Leave the bars in the neck so you can use them as a handle.

5. Back out the neck bolt half an inch or so.

6. Tap the neck bolt DOWN (back into the steerer tube) before you try to pull UP on the bars to get the neck out. If you try to just pull the neck out after loosening the bolt, without first knocking the bolt in, you're in for a frustrating experience. The nut at the end is a wedge that is almost certainly rusted to the inside of the steerer tube.

7. After removing the neck, the top headset nut should come loose pretty easily with a pipe wrench or a huge crescent wrench.

8. Under that nut is a ring that SHOULD just lift straight off. The trick is that it has a little prong on the inside that is supposed to be lined up with the groove in the threads of the steerer tube. Those stupid things usually get turned a little so the prong gets hung up on the threads. Try to spot it and turn it back into the groove.

9. After lifting the ring out, the nut under that should only be finger-tight, but put a pipe wrench on it if it's stuck.

10. Everything else just slides apart, except the bearing cups (races) which can be tapped out with a mallet and a small pipe or rod.

Hope that helps! Good luck, and post pics when you start building.

[alecw35]

Alloy handle bar stems have an annoying habit of seizing in steel steerer tubes. Theres a chemical reaction between the 2 metals. Steel stem seize too. Its best to remove the stem every few months and give it a clean and some grease.

Sometimes the expander wedge is seized in the fork steerer, but the stem is not. I remove the bolt and lift the stem out. Then take the wheel out. The brake may need to be removed to allow the bolt to be screwed in from below the fork crown. Then tap the bolt up into the forks.

If youve got an allen headed expander bolt. Be carefull not to batter it. It can deform the hole for the allen key. So you will have trouble getting the allen key in there.

I sometimes clamp the forks in the vice. This is a last resort method as its highly probable that the extra torque will bend the forks. This method would be difficult on forks with brake studs, and suspension forks. Anyway. Remove wheel, brakes, mudguards etc. Then lift the frame ont the bench. Have the vice wide open. Get the forks as far in as possible. Then clamp the vice jaws in firmly. Then try and turn the bars. Its heavy going. Ive managed to move my heavy steel bench doing this.

As for headset cups. You can get a Rocket tool. Its a tappered metal tube that slips inside the headstock of the frame. Then the wider end buts against the cup. You whack the thin end of the tool to get the cup out.
Heres Instructables. A great website.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Bicycle-Headset-Cup-Remover/
And to fit a headset.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Install-a-headset-in-a-bike/

I some times use a screwdriver or a chisel and a hammer to drift the cups out. By butting the chisel on the outside of the frame. Against the cup. Then tap firmly against it. Best to hit at a few places on the cup.
But I now usually just get a hammer and go straight at the cup. I stand the frame on the rear drop outs and lightly hold the bottom of the cup. Then hit the top of the cup. It ussually just pops into my hand. Can scratch the frame paint though.

[easyped]

Great info... Thanks much!

Alloy handle bar stems have an annoying habit of seizing in steel steerer tubes. Theres a chemical reaction between the 2 metals. Steel stem seize too. Its best to remove the stem every few months and give it a clean and some grease.

Sometimes the expander wedge is seized in the fork steerer, but the stem is not. I remove the bolt and lift the stem out. Then take the wheel out. The brake may need to be removed to allow the bolt to be screwed in from below the fork crown. Then tap the bolt up into the forks.

If youve got an allen headed expander bolt. Be carefull not to batter it. It can deform the hole for the allen key. So you will have trouble getting the allen key in there.

I sometimes clamp the forks in the vice. This is a last resort method as its highly probable that the extra torque will bend the forks. This method would be difficult on forks with brake studs, and suspension forks. Anyway. Remove wheel, brakes, mudguards etc. Then lift the frame ont the bench. Have the vice wide open. Get the forks as far in as possible. Then clamp the vice jaws in firmly. Then try and turn the bars. Its heavy going. Ive managed to move my heavy steel bench doing this.

As for headset cups. You can get a Rocket tool. Its a tappered metal tube that slips inside the headstock of the frame. Then the wider end buts against the cup. You whack the thin end of the tool to get the cup out.
Heres Instructables. A great website.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Bicycle-Headset-Cup-Remover/
And to fit a headset.
http://www.instructables.com/id/Install-a-headset-in-a-bike/

I some times use a screwdriver or a chisel and a hammer to drift the cups out. By butting the chisel on the outside of the frame. Against the cup. Then tap firmly against it. Best to hit at a few places on the cup.
But I now usually just get a hammer and go straight at the cup. I stand the frame on the rear drop outs and lightly hold the bottom of the cup. Then hit the top of the cup. It ussually just pops into my hand. Can scratch the frame paint though.

[easyped]

Very good I appreciate your info!
Edit: While I was typing up this long-winded answer, other people beat me to it! Oh, well, maybe there's something useful in here anyway.

This might seem obvious, but here's what has worked for me on rusty old bikes:

1. Spray it all down with good penetrating oil.

2. Give everything a bunch of gentle taps with a steel hammer, but not hard enough to dent anything. This seems to encourage the oil to find all the crevices and helps to shake some of the rust loose.

3. Let it sit for a day.

4. Leave the bars in the neck so you can use them as a handle.

5. Back out the neck bolt half an inch or so.

6. Tap the neck bolt DOWN (back into the steerer tube) before you try to pull UP on the bars to get the neck out. If you try to just pull the neck out after loosening the bolt, without first knocking the bolt in, you're in for a frustrating experience. The nut at the end is a wedge that is almost certainly rusted to the inside of the steerer tube.

7. After removing the neck, the top headset nut should come loose pretty easily with a pipe wrench or a huge crescent wrench.

8. Under that nut is a ring that SHOULD just lift straight off. The trick is that it has a little prong on the inside that is supposed to be lined up with the groove in the threads of the steerer tube. Those stupid things usually get turned a little so the prong gets hung up on the threads. Try to spot it and turn it back into the groove.

9. After lifting the ring out, the nut under that should only be finger-tight, but put a pipe wrench on it if it's stuck.

10. Everything else just slides apart, except the bearing cups (races) which can be tapped out with a mallet and a small pipe or rod.

Hope that helps! Good luck, and post pics when you start building.

[easyped]

No it's being a real bear

Have you already removed the stem? If not, sometimes when you loosen the bolt the wedge is stuck still and you need to hit the bolt with a mallet or something to break the wedge loose.

If you are past this step then, what Kid said.:jester:

Greg

[GregLWB]

No it's being a real bear

You've got lots of good info now. One other thing that I found is a rust/corrosion penetrator that works better than anything I've used in the past. It is called 'PB Blaster'. It is available in the auto section at Walmart. I have used it on exhaust bolts and every other hard to remove bolt on cars and off-road 4x4 trucks and it has yet to let me down.

I also had a pedal on a crank arm that wouldn't come off (yes, I was turning it the right way) even with a long pipe on the wrench and the arm in a vise (broke the vise right off of its base) so I sprayed it with the PB Blaster and let it sit overnight. The next morning I went out and was able to break it loose just using a regular length wrench. Just don't use it on plastic parts. Hope that helps.

Greg