Bought a bike for a friend and the conical wedge is badly scored and doesn't have a little pip on one side either (nor ever had by looks of things).No matter how much I tighten the bolt the handlebars aren't completely set and I'm almosthaving to do the bolt right up so that I can tighten it up at all as the wedge just keeps rotating until it's almost at the fully tightened position.
Is there a simple solution to fix/repair it by wrapping a bit of baking foil/piece of coke can around it for instance (thus increasing its diameter) or do i just need to go and find one?
thanks
Can a conical expander wedge be repaired
Re: Can a conical expander wedge be repaired
provided it isn't cast, a steel cone nut usually can have a blob of weld put on it and then be ground back to give a new pip. But plenty of stems just don't need one anyway.
You may sometimes need to lift the bolt to get the nut to stay put when starting to tighten things but that isn't the end of the world.
Perhaps counterintuitively, if you can dress the sides of a plain cone nut and similarly dress the mating surface, the cone will stay put more easily. Obviously having the screw threads clean and well lubed is a necessity too; usually the screw thread has a fine pitch to it so that the nut will tend not to spin. However if you decide to make a new cone nut or something, it means that you need to find the right tap, or to change the bolt as well.
I have replaced the original (M7/M8 or 5/16") solid steel bolt with a hollow steel M6 one with an aluminium cone nut before now; this is plenty strong enough for the job and works out near enough as lightweight as a full ergal assembly.
cheers
You may sometimes need to lift the bolt to get the nut to stay put when starting to tighten things but that isn't the end of the world.
Perhaps counterintuitively, if you can dress the sides of a plain cone nut and similarly dress the mating surface, the cone will stay put more easily. Obviously having the screw threads clean and well lubed is a necessity too; usually the screw thread has a fine pitch to it so that the nut will tend not to spin. However if you decide to make a new cone nut or something, it means that you need to find the right tap, or to change the bolt as well.
I have replaced the original (M7/M8 or 5/16") solid steel bolt with a hollow steel M6 one with an aluminium cone nut before now; this is plenty strong enough for the job and works out near enough as lightweight as a full ergal assembly.
cheers
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Brucey~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
