Originally Posted by IdahoBrett

Nothing special. Just a liberal application of Kroil. About 12 hours upright in the stand. Followed by 12 hours upside down on the floor.

I tried hitting the expander bolt with a rubber dead blow hammer throughout. But it was a ball peen hammer that knocked the “nut” loose with a single rap when the dead blow had no effect. I then chucked the fork up in a vise, supported by a couple pieces of 2x4 with card board for scratch protection. The BB sat nicely on my workbench.

I used the bars for leverage and started a twisting motion back and forth. The stem almost gave a perceptible “click” when the disimilar metal corrosion bond broke free. From there it was about 90 seconds of twisting while pulling up to remove the stem.

If there was one trick it would have to be the wrench set up I used for the lock nut. A large adjustable/crescent isn’t precise enough of a fit. A 1 3/16” Bonney style wrench with a custom cheater bar is what I used. I did not want to slip and round the edges off. I’ve used this set up a time or two in the 3 decades of wrenching on stuff that flies 6 miles up in the sky.




(reassembly began yesterday)