[Kristin]

Its useless right? I put several stems on my bike in the first 2 years. The threads began to bulge on the fork causing the steering to bind a bit. Trash day is tomorrow and I'm moving on Saturday. I've already carted this thing with me to 2 new addresses, because, well, you just never know. I need an intervention.

 

[MR_GRUMPY]

If it's not cracked, it's still useable. Just be very careful that you don't over-tighten that stem again.
Ps. Lay off those weights. You must be too strong.
Pss. A steel strearer will almost never fail.

 

[Mark McM]

Steerer failures

Its useless right? I put several stems on my bike in the first 2 years. The threads began to bulge on the fork causing the steering to bind a bit. Trash day is tomorrow and I'm moving on Saturday. I've already carted this thing with me to 2 new addresses, because, well, you just never know. I need an intervention.

If you mean the steerer diameter is bulging outward, I would discard the fork. A common point for crack initiation is the threads, and you may not detect the crack until the top of the steerer seperates. One of the main reasons that quill stems have a minimum insertion depth line is so that the expander wedge is not raised up so high that it presses against the threaded portion of the stem - the extra stress from the expander can increase the likelihood of a crack initiating from the threads.

As MR_GRUMPY says, steerer failures don't often fail - but when they do, the results are usually very, very bad. I've see a few cracked steerers, including one that failed in use, dropping the rider face first onto the road (not a pretty sight). I'd dump that bulged steerer before it happens to you.