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I'm restoring another old bike of mine (20 y.o). Want to repaint the bike, but I need to remove all the parts. Trying to remove the old rusty fork but have no idea how to do it. I tried to remove the hex nut with wrench, but it didn't even move at all. Trying to hit it with rubber mallet, but still not moving at all.

the forkin fork fork enter image description here Any idea?

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  • I feel for you. I've got a bike in much better condition where I can't adjust the stem because the stem bolt is frozen. Planning to turn it over and flood the tube with oxalic acid when I get the chance (and the weather permits).
    – Daniel R Hicks
    Commented Dec 17, 2020 at 18:32

1 Answer 1

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You first have to remove the quill stem. To remove you undo the bolt from the top (blue arrow), and then you will probably need to tap it lightly with a hammer to push the bung nut out the bottom so it's loose enough to remove.

Once you remove the stem, you need to remove the headset lock nut (red arrow). Once this is removed, you can remove the headset nut/race (yellow arrow).

Watch out for the bearings inside the headset, they may be in a cage, they may be loose, or they may be in a worn out cage that doesn't hold them properly any more.

enter image description here

Here is a general quill stem diagram for you to understand what locks it in place enter image description here

And here is a general threaded headset diagram. enter image description here

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  • Already removed the upper bolt, it's already loose and I can remove the upper bolt. For the headset lock nut, it didnt even bulge Is it the right step? I watched some video and they just remove the upper bolt and then hammer the fork from bottom
    – ijoin
    Commented Dec 17, 2020 at 15:51
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    Put the upper bolt (part C in the diagram) back in, but only screw it in part way. Then whack it straight down with a hammer. That should loosen up the nut (part D in the diagram) so that the whole stem can come out. Then unscrew the lock nut (counter clockwise when looking down from the top). Rust can make all of this much, much harder.
    – Noah Sutherland
    Commented Dec 17, 2020 at 16:10
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    Nope, tried it and it didnt bulge, also sprayed some rust buster penetrating oil and hit it with mallet, still it didnt move at all The rust really make it much much much much harder
    – ijoin
    Commented Dec 17, 2020 at 16:25
  • @codearm2 That 7-shaped thing should entirely come out, including that triangle shaped wedge at the bottom of the assembly.
    – MaplePanda
    Commented Dec 17, 2020 at 16:33
  • If I am interpreting these photos correctly, in photo 3 it looks as if you partly extracted the stem and cut off the forward extension. If that's correct, you should still be able to loosen the locknut, but you'll need to fix the forks in place. Your setup is different from the diagram that @abdnChap posted: you don't have both a locknut and adjustable cup, you have only a locknut. If you've cut off the stem extension, you'll need to punch out the stem wedge after you get the fork clear.
    – Adam Rice
    Commented Dec 17, 2020 at 16:48

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