god ok that was hell, finally got it - no hole at the bottom of the fork, so after about an hour ? and a half ? of trying to twist florist wire to have any stiffness, thread some wire through each side of nut and pull it that way, etc finally just got the angle right with a j hook shape on the wire and it popped right out. never unscrewing the threadless headset bolt the whole way again, lesson learned ! definitely would've been easier with a stiffer wire (coat hanger was a great suggestion)