Changing stem rounded allen key isse

Slinkie · 15 Jun 2017 at 18:15

Hi,

I am trying to change my stem and the allen key slot in the cap has rounded. What can I do to get it off? I don't really have a lot of tools at my disposal so looking for any tips to help!

UTmaniac · 15 Jun 2017 at 19:25

Not encountered this before, but an idea (probably a bad one) that springs to mind is...

Fill rounded allen key cavity with some sort of glue/resin, with an allen key suspended in the in it?

The top cap should not be heavily torqued, ~4nM absolute tops, it's the bolts clamping the stem to the steerer that should take the strain.

BennyC · 15 Jun 2017 at 21:26

^ that or source a replacement bolt and then dremel the head of the rounded bolt to turn it into a flat head screw and use a driver to remove.

Fit new bolt, try not to round moving forward.

Vonhelmet · 15 Jun 2017 at 21:58

If the worst comes to the worst, drill the whole lot out, top cap and bolt, then work the bolt out with pliers.

Roady · 16 Jun 2017 at 10:59

As it's an allen/hex head bolt it's got quite a substantial head on it, with a nice handy 'guide' hole to drill into the bolt itself! Safer than drilling the whole thing out you could use a thread extraction tool.

I used one very successfully removing a sheared mudguard bolt, much smaller size and far more awkward position behind my bottom bracket. Toolset I bought (also included tap & die as I wanted one for a while) was great value.

Slinkie · 16 Jun 2017 at 12:33

Thanks all I managed to get it out and change the stem, where can I get a new bolt? Are they specific to the cap or will and bolt do?