Anyone familiar with old Schwinn's

[iwannadie]

I got an old early 50's schwinn ladies spitfire I am looking to restore, not a pro restore just a nice paint job and get running for my niece. She would love a the cool retro cruiser.

I was removing the gooseneck and the bolt snapped, now the gooseneck is stuck. I know there is a wedge nut in there that I need to break loose before I can pull the gooseneck free. Has anyone dealt with that and can offer any tips? I am really trying not to damage anything mainly the forks by overly stressing anything. I am just having a hard time picturing what is holding it in place as I've never dealt with a bike like this.

Do I need something to bang the wedge nut down, a long bolt in the gooseneck hole and tap it down? Should I twist the gooseneck? I've been spraying it down with penetrating oil for a week now daily trying to free up the rust inside.

The bike is really clean and not much rust at all but it seems water pooled up in the gooseneck and rusted the hardware in there.

 

[xcm]

OH GOD, a 1" wedge style stem....

bmx bikes got over this retarded CRAP right before i got into them, and it makes ZERO sense to me... the 1 1/8"(??) style that replaced it is 900% better...

anyways... if you tap that bolt down, it'll only tighten the wedges.... it'll push it into the bottom wedge even more.

maybe ask skwerly from socal, i know he is into older bikes like these.

 

[iwannadie]

OH GOD, a 1" wedge style stem....

bmx bikes got over this retarded CRAP right before i got into them, and it makes ZERO sense to me... the 1 1/8"(??) style that replaced it is 900% better...

anyways... if you tap that bolt down, it'll only tighten the wedges.... it'll push it into the bottom wedge even more.

maybe ask skwerly from socal, i know he is into older bikes like these.

Well good thing I didn't try tapping it down yet then ha. I was figuring the bolt threading from the top of the gooseneck would pull the wedge nut up, wedging it. I was hoping I could tap from the top pushing the wedge nut back down freeing the gooseneck.

Someone was telling me it may just be easier to hack it all off and replace the forks and gooseneck with fresh ones.

I also am surprised that the hardware has mostly been metric, either someone over the years replaced most of it or how unlikely that they used metric? I figure a 50s american made bike would be using SAE entirely.

 

[RCP Fab]

anyways... if you tap that bolt down, it'll only tighten the wedges.... it'll push it into the bottom wedge even more.

No it won't.

Bikes are pretty simple, especially the old ones. You tighten the bolt, it pulls the wedge up. Hammer it down. Then you will most likely have to deal with rust.

 

[xcm]

depends on the stem hardware, many have two wedges that intermesh. apparently some have 1 wedge (saw that for the first time right now when you pressed me).

 

[RCP Fab]

depends on the stem hardware, many have two wedges that intermesh. apparently some have 1 wedge (saw that for the first time right now when you pressed me).

99% of the threaded stems out there are the 1 wedge style. I have seen a few other weird variations, none of which would tighten if you hammered on it.

 

[riverfever]

No it won't.

Bikes are pretty simple, especially the old ones. You tighten the bolt, it pulls the wedge up. Hammer it down. Then you will most likely have to deal with rust.

Agreed. Get a long bolt that will reach down in there and persuade it. You're not going to hurt the fork. Keep at it with the penetrating oil. I bet you're mostly dealing with rust holding the stem in place. I might get some really cheap handlebar and put it on there so as not to bend the original bars. I might even get a cheap set of bar ends and install them straight up and down so you can really get some leverage and break it free.

 

[Tdad]

A 50's Schwinn should not have any metric hardware on it, so it sounds like someone may have tried to "upgrade" it. I think the steerer tubes on those old bike were like 7/8" diameter, which isn't used anymore. Could be someone forced a 1" stem into it and now it's really stuck in there.
The original stem would have used a 45 deg cut wedge that's pulled up against the 45 deg cut of the stem itself by the bolt as you surmised.
Post some pics if you can.

 

[iwannadie]

A 50's Schwinn should not have any metric hardware on it, so it sounds like someone may have tried to "upgrade" it. I think the steerer tubes on those old bike were like 7/8" diameter, which isn't used anymore. Could be someone forced a 1" stem into it and now it's really stuck in there.
The original stem would have used a 45 deg cut wedge that's pulled up against the 45 deg cut of the stem itself by the bolt as you surmised.
Post some pics if you can.

Well, when I said mostly metric it's because there has been a few SAE. I am certain the steering stem bolt was one that was SAE. The axle nuts, the nuts holding the chain guard and fenders were all metric. The hardware looked cheap and does seem like someone replaced it. It's just been an odd mix, almost like working on the XJ ha.

It seems to have been re-painted at some point too, when I was sanding a little bit it seemed like I was going through 2 really thin layers of the same blue color paint. The top layer was coming off really thick and almost felt "soft".

 

[bails85]

No if the neck is still on and the bolt snapped just pull on the goose neck and twist it will be a bitch but that is the only way to get it out. The bolt is the only thing holding the neck to the angle nut inside the fork tube. Once you get the neck out flip the bike upside down take off the front tire. Using a solid punch, slap the angle nut and punch from the bottom out of the top. If you try to hit it down it will either get stuck on the lip of the fork tube ( if it's the open bottom) or get lodged inside the tube. If all of this fails slap the bottom of the neck with a hammer to free it from the fork tube. Either way this is what you have to do. After you get the bs out. Buy a wire bottle brush that hooks on to a drill and run it down the tube to remove all the old rust. Good luck

 

[iwannadie]

Well my friend came over and we got it all apart, it was a real pain though.

First I got a hardened bolt to try and pound the wedge nut loose, it just ended up bending the hardened bolt!

We ended up putting something through the gooseneck(acting like a handle bar) and were able to twist the gooseneck just barely. The gooseneck kept wanting to bend, we wanted of course to not bend the gooseneck or forks so we were careful and it rotated just enough to break the rust free. Once it rotated a tiny bit we tried pulling it free and it wasn't having any of that. Tried beating on our handlebar piece but it wasn't budging period.

I broke out the air hammer.... I had to go full blast and lean into it with all my weight for a good 30-45 seconds before it budged. After that first little bit it started to come out much easier and then fell out. I used a flat head air hammer chisel on the inside of the gooseneck so it left no marks. That left the wedge nut still in the forks, the forks are closed bottom.

The nut broke so far down I had nothing that could reach it we decided to pound the wedge nut down and there would be enough room for a new one above it. A long bolt with a nut the same size as the tube and we pounded the wedge nut down out of the way.

Sounds brutal using an air hammer but that thing was just seized in there and nothing got broken, the gooseneck bent right back in shape. Sucks the wedge nut is now a permanent fixture but it isn't in the way. I guess I could drill a hole in the bottom of the forks and pound the wedge nut upward if I see a reason to later.

 

[heyhar]

Try not to do anything that will make you have to replace the fork. You may not be able to get a direct replacement. Are the fork sides flat stock or tubular? Schwinn forks were all flat steel until they started sourcing parts off-shore in the mid Seventies. I have one of their original imported units, a 'World' brand bike, from somewhere in South East Asia, from 1978. I bought it at an exclusive Schwinn dealer, and it weighs about half what a similar American unit weighs. Yours should have the flat forks, smooth welded frame joints, and a one-piece pedal crank set.

 

[iwannadie]

Yea we didn't want to ruin the forks, they are the original forks(flat). The crank is original but the pedals are not, I think the pedals and handle bar grips are the only thing not original.

 

[RCP Fab]

I have 2 columbias here that I think are all original, if you need any vintage parts.