Spacer stuck on steerer tube - expander plug stuck?

luv2ride

Help!
Decided to reduce bar height today. Messing around with combinations on spacers, able to slide on and off steerer no problem. Seemed to have problem dialling out play in headset after finished, so think I may have overtighted the expander plug. Wonder if that combined with a particularly close tolerance spacer means I now can't get the spacer past the part of the steerer that houses part of the expander plug?:



I did notice early on in the job that when the expander was fully assembled the top part sat 1-2mm proud of top of the carbon steerer. After removing the top part of the expander I tried to drive it down with a couple of whacks with a rubber mallet, but wouldn't budge. Even trying to drive the forks down out of frame doesnt seem to give enough purchase to drive the carbon spacer up and off the last few cm of steerer tube. Im stumped, so before resorting to the LBS and tge inevitable wait, any suggestions? Pretty hacked off as bike has been running great, and only wanted to drop the stem height 5mm! :roll:
This seems to be the steerer bung, as originally supplied by Scott:

Ben6899

Have you possibly deformed the steerer?

whyamihere

Did you loosen the expander plug before attempting the butchery with a mallet?

sungod

if the spacer was loose, but now gets stuck, then it seems that you've caused the steerer tube to bulge by hammering on the bung

carbon fibre tubes aren't supposed to bulge, there'll be little margin before damage occurs and weakens the tube (may already have occurred), the steerer tube is safety critical, failure could result in severe injury/death

you need to get the bung out of there to remove the pressure, looks like the inner piece has a taper that expands the split outer, putting a long matching bolt into it and gently wiggling/tapping down may be enough - if it won't move you could try freeze spray on the inner bit, might be enough thermal contraction to loosen it

luv2ride

:oops: Sorted now...
Steerer must have been slightly deformed, I used a socket as a drift to strike the lower part of the bung, without hitting the outer sleeve. That fairly easily drove it into the steerer tube, but as it turned as it fell it rested at an angle which meant it didnt just fall out when turned upside down...had to hook it out with an old bit of brake cable. All re-fitted, spacers slid down no issue, no play in headset. Cleaned all the headset bearings while the fork was out and all in great fettle. Never needed replacing in the 5 plus years I've ridden the bike! Thought about cutting the steerer whilst at it, but maybe another day....

One of the Westbrook CR1 SL specials - owes me nothing but would have been very sad to have written it off due to stuffing the fork....

Think I should get it checked...?

Ben6899

Luv2ride wrote:

Think I should get it checked...?

Glad you're sorted.

Yes. I would.

luv2ride

https://youtu.be/8bSnbjHiFXc

Check out this video at 7 mins in. Shows exactly the issue I was having, and looked surprisingly easy to expand the steerer tube to the point a spacer wouldn't move freely up and down the steerer...think I might get a longer compression plug....any recommendations?

Wheelspinner

Luv2ride wrote:

https://youtu.be/8bSnbjHiFXc

Check out this video at 7 mins in. Shows exactly the issue I was having, and looked surprisingly easy to expand the steerer tube to the point a spacer wouldn't move freely up and down the steerer...think I might get a longer compression plug....any recommendations?

There’s lots of expander bungs about that are much longer than that. I’ve a couple of the ITM ones which are about 2” long, but there’s plenty.

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/au/en/bbb-powerhead-compressor-adjuster-bap03/rp-prod29884

For example

luv2ride

Yeah, wasn't happy to leave the original in place as didn't seem to work as it should, so ordered this from Westbrook Cycles as a replacement for a tenner:

Then thought I might treat myself to a new top cap, and given 2Tone are celebrating their 40th anniversary ....