Springer steering stem removal?

[JohnC]

I have my front springer fork completely removed and dissassembled from my '99 Heritage Springer. That is, except for the steering stem. It is still attached to the lower tree.

Can anyone tell me how it is removed? There was a snap ring on the base of the stem that I assume locks the stem to the tree, but after removing that ring the stem is still locked in place. My guess is that it has to be pressed out but the service manual doesn't say if that's the case.

Can anyone help? Thanks in advance.

[Rey]

You have to press it out or beat it out. Some stems have a flange below the snap ring so the stem has to come out from the top down.

I machined a replacement stem for a guy and he used a big hammer to beat it out from the top. The stem was broken just below the threads on the top.

Protect the threads if you are going to reuse it.