Handlebar end plugs stuck... ideas?

Picked up 70s mixte for other half and started to take it apart for polish and rebuild only to fall at one of the first hurdles you can possibly fall at - I can't get the darn handlebar end plugs out... :facepalm:

They are the kind with a screw in the end that pulls back a wedge to lock the plug in place. The screw has come out fine but I suspect the wedge is well and truly, well, wedged. Annoyingly while the plug internals appear to be metal the end of the plug is plastic so there's a limit to how much I can wrench on it without stripping all the plastic off. I've got it about 5mm out so far but don't want to keep wrenching it.

Current thinking is start by spraying plus gas inside and leaving it a bit and seeing if that loosens things up. Perhaps give it a few well intentioned thwacks with a hammer (although that will drive it back inside, undoing the work of the last 20 mins)...

If that doesn't work then any ideas? Apply heat (not sure how with plastic end)? Start drilling starting with small bits working up to larger bits?

Def want to keep the bars - they're fantastic path racer style moustache bars...

Put the screw back in loosely and tap to free the wedge, same as a quill stem.

May scratch the bars though...

Re:

Thanks - sadly tried that already (the screw thing not the chainsaw thing) - the screw slots right back into the plug before it bites...

I would try squirting in some washing up liquid in the hole, swill it around in the bars a bit. Then to get
some purchase on the end of the plug, hold them with some rubber gloves and twist. WD40 will probably work too.

Re:

Have you tried putting a phillips screw driver in the hole and giving it a tap :?:

Re: Re:

Godwin_Austen":1tvvr2gd said:

Thanks - sadly tried that already (the screw thing not the chainsaw thing) - the screw slots right back into the plug before it bites...

Click to expand...

Use something longer, anything that will fit the plug hole but not go through the thread so you can tap it.

If they are like this, then as said above using an implement wider and longer through the hole should work.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-RETRO-R ... 5674716206

There are other designs too, I have had some with metal snap rings, rubber and washer....failing all that
just pull out a selection of power tools and take the bull by the horn.

Re:

OK - I got one side out - I could just see the wedge through a slot in the side of the outer plug where I had wrenched it out of the handlebar a bit - I stuck in a tiny allen key and managed to lever the wedge back until it freed itself.

The other side seems to have the same problem :roll: But if the same solution works at least I only have 20 mins of swearing ahead of me and then I can do the allen key trick again...

(tried the philips thing but anything that fitted in the screw hole slid straight through the threaded part - tried it at an angle but it didn't quite work... but as ever thanks for the brilliant ideas and the moral support chaps).

Trash them with the biggest drill you can . Someone kept Ron Kit in a job BITD but no need to be sentimental !

Shaun