Remove compression plug

junglist_matty
junglist_matty Posts: 1,731
edited July 2021 in Workshop
Just removed the top cap of my TCR to adjust stack height.... A nut of some description is now rattling around inside the steerer tube, I only assume it's snapped off the top but and the compression plug can't be loosened off for easy removal!!! ....Any ideas on how I can remove this now-stuck compression plug?

Comments

  • sungod
    sungod Posts: 17,207
    was there a bolt with a threaded centre hole that the top cap screw went into?

    if there was and you've removed it, the nut at the other end will be what is rattling about

    try using a piece of stiff wire to make a hook to go inside the hole and pull the visible piece of the plug upwards, that may allow the inner part to retract and free the plug

    assuming it's like this one...


    my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny
  • MattFalle
    MattFalle Posts: 11,644
    if you can't get a grip of anything and its just holding itself in by friction can you turn the fork upside down and knock it out using a long bar?
    .
    The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
  • junglist_matty
    junglist_matty Posts: 1,731
    MattFalle said:

    if you can't get a grip of anything and its just holding itself in by friction can you turn the fork upside down and knock it out using a long bar?

    Unfortunately not.... The underside of the fork is not a hollow tube, it's a full carbon steerer that's bonded to the forks, so the only opening to the steerer tube is via the top of the forks.

  • MattFalle
    MattFalle Posts: 11,644
    Can basically treat is as a defunct star nut and just smash it down the fork tube far enough to allow you to fit a new one?
    .
    The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
  • junglist_matty
    junglist_matty Posts: 1,731
    MattFalle said:

    Can basically treat is as a defunct star nut and just smash it down the fork tube far enough to allow you to fit a new one?

    Can't do that either, the top of the plug is wider than the inner diameter of the tube ;)
  • masjer
    masjer Posts: 2,613
    If you don't own a bearing puller, you could use a masonry Rawl bolt. You might have to drill the hole larger. Fit the Rawl bolt in the hole in the top and pull the bolt- preferably with a vice.
  • MattFalle
    MattFalle Posts: 11,644
    big phuck off self tapper into it and rip it out?

    maybe even a hook from b&q or edwyn's hardware that ypu screw into the wall and hang bikes n shitt off - that way you have something to hold onto.

    then hit it with a hammer, set fire to it and trebuchet it into next door's garden.
    .
    The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.