Bicycle Tutor

Purchased a s/h mtb ,and noticed some play with the forks inside frame.thought i would investigate this by removing them.(threadless 1 1/8 suntour xcm) the headset is an "a"type which is recessed into the frame.

The trouble is after removing h/bars,stem and spacers which were rusted onto steerer tube and i suspect forks are rusted to headset? Unable to get forks out have tried hammer n wood, soaking with penetrating oil. I am nervous about using too much force as the frame is aluminum.can anyone shed some light on best and safest way out of this situation?

I've seen this before... and it sucks. Try soaking with penetrating oil for a while. But if that doesn't work, you may need to cut the headset off the fork. This has to be done very carefully. You want to hacksaw the ring on the headset that is holding it on without scratching the steerer tube of the fork. You'll need a new headset, but that might not be a bad idea anyway considering.

If/when you do get it apart, you want to really thoroughly clean and polish the fork. Make sure to put a thin layer of grease on everything before reassembly.

Note that technically you normally wouldn't need to take it apart to adjust a little looseness. But it's better you caught this now anyway. It may have been to corroded to adjust and the longer it was there rusting together, the worse it would be to fix. Good luck