can't undo the head set top cap

sloppycowpat

as above I pretty sure that the bolt has become threaded as there is no loosening of the headset when it is turned :x

any ideas to get the swine out?

ideas i can think of

1) drill it out

2) hacksaw through the spacer and cut the bolt

3 ) knock the star nut out from the bottom of the fork - with a long bit of metal

cheers

1mancity2

Can you get a knife under the top cap and apply upwards pressure while undoing the bolt it may catch the thread and come out.

Chunkers1980

THe headsaet should only become loose when you undo the stem clamp bolts.

benpinnick

Drilling will be tricky if the bolt is spinning, and going up and under will be very hard, as the SFN is a tough little bugger that way. What spacers do you have on there? If they are Carbon ones you could chop off a spacer, which should expose the bolt lower down allowing for a hacksaw job. Otherwise I think you're drilling the top cap into oblivion, then punching the SFN out the bottom or similar.

bails87

As Chunkers says, (once the stem bolts are done up) loosening or tightening the top cap bolt will do nothing to the headset.

Undo the top cap bolt, undo the stem bolts, then see what happens.

sloppycowpat

Done it thank god in the end I used a tube that was the right diameter to bend the spurs of the star nut and knock it out pics to follow

sloppycowpat

as promised







ended up taking apart an old rusty pogostick to get the tube to knock out the star nut as was going to use some old handle bars but they did not fit because they were risers

It was the star nut that had failed the welded or tacked in threaded sleeve in the centre had broken so it could spin freely with in the main body of the star nut