Frozen stem in pace rc35 forks

Hi , can anyone help me remove a frozen quill stem from my frame. Just bought a bike from eBay with a lovely pair of pace forks, I've been after for a long while .

The stem is badly frozen , (not the stem bolt). Is there a painfeee method of removing? otber than leaving wd40 in the top tube over night. Appreciate any tips so I can building my retro Mtb. Many thanks

Have you tried drifting it out from below up the steerer.

You should find the steerer has a circlip under the crown. If the above drifting method doesn’t work, undo the circlip and the crown bolts, pull it all apart and then you can work on it off the frame. You can atleast then replace the steerer on the forks, PACE still stock a selection.
If the circlip is too tight again the crown and your having difficulty accessing is, undo the headset locknut and top race. To rescue the headset parts if the stem remains stuck, just cut through the quill part just above the top of the steerer.

Let us know how you get on.

Sorry if I’m being silly here but drifting up will only work if the bottom wedge has dropped out first, if that’s stuck as well won’t you just be sort of making it tighter?

It’s freed both the wedge and main part ofthe stem for me before.
Alternative is to drift the wedge down a bit with the stem bolt in but undone as far as it’ll go whilst still engaged in the wedge, that may do the trick.

Ok fair play it feels like it shouldn’t work but if it has for you then hopefully it might here too.

Also, depending whether it’s an alloy stem in steel steerer, or steel in steel etc.... you could try Coca Cola rather than wd40.
I’d certainly use a penetrating oil rather than wd40.

Have you tried the simple classic;

undo the stem bolt a few turns, then tw@t it (the bolt) with a hammer?

Same as above, try knocking the wedge loose with the bolt, then a couple of whacks on the side of the stem should get that spinning, or moving at least, you might have to knock the stem upwards with a couple of whacks too.. Shouldnt have to hit it hard enough to damage anything though

mark

cheers, going to try the above.

The stem bolt nut is free after wacking it with a hammer, going to leave it soak in some penertration fluid over night and hopefully it might be looser tomorrow.

This bike is not in good shape the seat post is frozen too!!!