Quill stem stuck

Peter Verdesi said:

I cracked the quill stem on my old Cannondale ('99) Multisport 4000 (see post "cracked stem"😉 and now I'm having a hell of a time getting the old stem out of the fork. I've taken the bolt out of the stem and loosened the head set but the thing won't budge. The stem completly broke off on the front so there is no way to use the handle bars for leverage. Am I missing something? Heat? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Before removing the bolt, you should have partially loosened it, and given it a whack to disengage the wedge or plug at the base of the quill.

boudreaux said:

Before removing the bolt, you should have partially loosened it, and given it a whack to disengage the wedge or plug at the base of the quill.

Thanks. The wedge or plug is loose inside the fork. So there is nothing that should be holding the stem in place. Do they ever freeze together inside the fork tube?

Peter Verdesi said:

Thanks. The wedge or plug is loose inside the fork. So there is nothing that should be holding the stem in place. Do they ever freeze together inside the fork tube?

Your local shop likely deals with this stuff all the time. This is not the first quill stem to have broken.

Take it down there. They are likely to have some sort of field-expedient method for removing it -- a hand-made jig or puller of some sort.

good luck!