Broken stem

So, this weekend I decided to try stripping an old dawes complete I got off this forum, and build it up as a beater for a mate to get him on a bike (all for under £50).

Successfully got the old brake calipers off, removed all the rusty gearing and brake wires, removed the chainset and cranks (all still fine and useable, including bottom bracket), sanded off the wheel rust and got some tyres and inners for the wheels...

When it got to removing the old drops and brake levers, I failed massively. Couldn't work out how to take off the levers, so I couldn't slide out the drops. So I tried to widen the quill stem by pulling out the drops..and lo, the stem totally broke.

Now I am faced with the horror of trying to not only remove the quill stem (which I am completely unfamiliar with having only worked with ahead stems and modern bikes), but finding a free replacement stem to fit 25.4 bars. Presumably it would be very unsafe to try and glue the stem back together.

Dammit - if only I could have removed the drop levers, this would never have happened!!

My question: is removing the quill stem as simple as undoing the bolt on the top with an allen key? And possibly hitting it with a block of wood after leaving it to soak in a bit of GT85, as utfs has revealed?

Thanks all

Yup, one bolt to remove. Then buy a new one obviously...

Thanks mr TooTallTim

stems can become very tight in old frames. Aluminum and steel chemically weld together. This means that you may have to use a decent amount of brute force to get the the stem, twisting to start of with before being able to pull it out. There are a few threads on here for tips on removing stuck stems.

yeah I've been reading the threads, looks like my lady-guns are gonna have some work tonight! It's all about the brawn. Cheers for the advice guys, forever grateful

heh, bit of an update...

After I broke the stem, I removed the long bolt after a bit of a struggle. The stem still would not budge.

• sprayed some gt85 up the headtube and around the stem/headset connect and down the stem hole where the bolt was.
  
  

Stem would not budge

• Soaked stem in more gt85 overnight. tried removing stem again next day. would not budge.

• Tried putting the bolt back in but leaving the top of the bolt up a little bit, so it wasn't screwed it. Hit the top of the bolt with a hammer - Hooray! I could hear the bottom of the stem rattling around in the headtube.

Stem still would not budge.
Soaked overnight in gt85.

• Messed about with trying to put long thin things in the headtube to try and hammer the stem out UPwards.

• Finally got quite pissed off. turned the whole bike upside down and held the frame inbwteen my legs and took a massive swing at the clamp bit of the stem...

Stem had moved a bit!

• Kept hammering at the stem in an upward motion from the headtube (but still holding the frame upside down).

• Fuckin rusty stem poppped out! Fuck yeh!

put the new one (donated by Geordieboy, thanks dude) with LOADS of lubrication stuff I'd bought for the job. I don't want this to happen again. Thanks everyone for the great advice, and for other people in historical threads who had suggested all the things I'd tried :)

Well done! The importance of greasing components should not be overlooked!

Well done! The importance of greasing components should not be overlooked!

what about cranks on square tapers???

i have never heard of someone not being able to remove cranks because they seized together.

ahem