Crossed threaded enve carbon stem..solutions . Update from ENVE

[Kingfisher]

Made a novice mistake this wkd while installing a new carbon Enve stem. I accidentally screwed one of the four bolts in faceplate incorrectly...crooked and now it will only thread in partially. Is there a solution for this guys?
Thanks

I emailed ENVE about the issue and they are sending out a new stem....said there may have been some resin in curing process of stem in relation to threading. All they want me to do is to cut old stem in half.
Good customer support from ENVE

[Duende]

Take the stem off. Run the screw the opposite direction from inside to out to retap it correctly.

If you only did minor damage this should be fine. If you went really far in with the screw wrong, then I’d say the stem is toast. To critical a component to take chances.

[Kingfisher]

Take the stem off. Run the screw the opposite direction from inside to out to retap it correctly.

If you only did minor damage this should be fine. If you went really far in with the screw wrong, then I’d say the stem is toast. To critical a component to take chances.

just checked. that hole is way to small to insert the screw.

[vincenz]

Could you retap it? Maybe need a bigger bolt afterwards, but may be cheaper overall than a new stem.

[Calnago]

@Duende’s suggestion was best, but if the hole is not a complete pass through then you can’t really go in from the other side. I’d first try a tap of the same size but your objective is to just get it going in the original threads, and not follow the cross threaded pattern. Hopefully this will recreate the dominant thread so that you can then get the original bolt in and have it hold. This assumes that you didn’t go too far in before realizing the error.

[Dave]

One problem with retapping is guiding the tap into the hole squarely. If you have a drill press, you could drill a 13/64 or 5mm hole through a small piece of 3/4 inch thick wood and use that as a guide to get the tap started straight. A 3/16 inch drill would be a bit small and you don't want to tap threads in the wood, or it would not allow the tap to freely engage the existing threads. Place the wood block firmly against the face of the stem, so it aligns the tap with the hole.

Worst case, you do the same thing with a helicoil thread repair insert.

[Calnago]

Exactly, if you don’t get started in the original threads you’ll just make it worse. On the upside, it’s only a stem, replaceable in worst case. It’s not like you’ve screwed up the threads for your direct mount brakes.

[dddd]

I would keep trying to get the screw to follow thew original threads, perhaps by using a good, tight-fitting hex wrench that might help with putting some "lean" into the screw as it starts in the hole.

Try backing out the screw while forcing it in, it should click at some point as the last thread disengages with the screw's threading. Then rotate it another half turn CCW, lean the screw as straight as you can while forcing it in, and start turning it CW again. Again, use force to make the screw lean as needed.

Failing that, I would put a cutting notch in the first thread of the screw and repeat all of the above.

If the original threaded engagement is long enough, like more than 8 turns, you might try drilling out the first one or two threads and trying again.

Check for the depth of the hole to see if a longer screw might make up for loss of however many threads might need to be drilled out.

Don't make the hole deeper unless you want to play engineer.

[ultraman6970]

You need to get a tap for that is fixeable but you need a tap.

Home depot, take the screw check out the size and pitch and buy the tap for it.

Not talking about rettapng bigger size ok? Just tap the same size, is just crossed a little bit and probably half of the tap will tap in the remnants of the thread and you will be good to go because the part that is crossed will correct itself. Taps a conic and will try to get to the good threads 1st before starting cutting new trheads in the bad part of the threads.

[m_sasso]

As long as you didn't force the cap head bolt too far into the stem you should be able to salvage the stem. First look at the threads on the cap head bolt you cross threaded, it could have been a poorly threaded bolt to begin with that caused your initial problems. Often the hole threads may not be too messed up and the cap head bolt is the part that started off being poorly threaded or receives the brunt of the damage/cross threading as you screwed it in. What ever you do, toss the original bolt and do not use it again. Like most have said get a tap remove the face plate entirely and clean up any thread damage on the stem without juggling the face plate and bars in place, then use a new bolt with clean threads. Once you have the stem threads cleaned up, your cap head bolt screwing in correctly, you can put your face plate and bars back in place and tighten the four face plate cap head bolts down to the specified torque.

[Kingfisher]

update posted in first post

[kramnnim]

Would love to see photos of the cut stem

[Kingfisher]

Would love to see photos of the cut stem

ok, here you go

[Cat3roadracer]

Excellent customer service from Enve. First class company.

[chiasticon]

I'll bet that was fun.

[kramnnim]

ok, here you go

:eek::eek::eek: