I’m building a bike, and I have a Planet-X carbon fork and the Planet-X compression bung. Last night while working on my headset I tightened the bolt a little too much and the wedge became stuck…how to un-stick the wedge so the compression plug will come out? I need to take another few mm off the steerer tube for it to be perfect
Seems like it’s a compression sleeve with an intergal wedge, so if I can knock the wedge loose the plug should come right out again. How to do that without damaging the carbon steerer tube?
Is it just a star nut? If that’s the case, they are meant to only go one way once they are installed…down. If you need it to go further down, grab a hammer and something to press against the nut and tap it down to the desired depth, if you need it to come back up, well that’s a bit harder. You can always push it all the way down the tube and pull it out if there is a drain hole somewhere or you can just buy a new nut and call it a day. Hope this helps.
No, it’s an expansion plug not a star nut. Star nuts are not used on carbon steerers because they would destroy the fibers and compromise the fork.
My situation is like an expansion bolt where a cone slides upwards against a tapered sleeve and presses out against the walls of the steerer. With the bolt removed, the plug is stuck and I cannot remove it. I know there’s a way to get it out, i just don’t know what that is…
Hmmmm. Trying to envision. So when you stick the Allen wrench down into the nut to ‘unset’ it you can’t get it to loosen up? Maybe have a shop take a look, but worst case scenario is you could drill it out…VERY carefully.
My last carbon steerer was on a Ouzo and the expansion nut was set with a really large Allen, maybe as big as a 10mm.
I thought about that (using a small diameter Allen) but I didn’t want to bugger the threads…are you saying stick the Allen down in at an angle and try to unseat the cone? Give me some more detail please!
They all have different mechansims, but with the bolt removed try a good hard tap on the center portion. If thet doesn’t work some of them need a larger allen to be inserted and turned after the topcap bolt is removed.
I thought about that (using a small diameter Allen) but I didn’t want to bugger the threads…are you saying stick the Allen down in at an angle and try to unseat the cone? Give me some more detail please!
Mmmmm no, I’m saying depending on your make/model of expansion nut you may or may not have an Allen bolt used for setting the depth. When you take the top cap out and look down you will see a hex opening clear as day IF that is the mechanism your particular setup uses.
without seeing it, the description sounds like one I had before with the same issue… it really wasn’t too complicated just to find a longer bolt with the same thread (so it stuck further out the top of the steerer tube) and then just tap the wedge back down/out with a hammer.
It took a little harder whack than you might be comfortable with at first, but I don’t think it’s anywhere near enough force to strip the threads as long as they’re fully engaged top to bottom. You just want enough clearance height on the bolt so there’s no danger of whacking the rim of the steerer with the hammer, and also make sure there’s some way of retaining the bolt/wedge so they don’t get lost in the steerer if the whole assembly comes apart and lodges at an angle.
