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frozen seat post....need recs on how to free



 
 
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  #1  
Old October 30th 03, 05:27 AM
John Spellman
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Default frozen seat post....need recs on how to free

Frame is steel.
Seat post is aluminum.
Welded together from oxidation and rust.
LBS tried w pipe wrench, vice, and lubricants...all to no avail.
Bike is mid 80's vintage road bike....Suntour, lugged steel, etc.
Still looks and rides great, so I'd really like to salvage it.
Don't care if I damage the seat post.
Would prefer to keep frame damage to a minimum.

How do I free it? Blowtorch?
Who is best able/equipped to do it?
bike shop? frame builder? machine shop?

I'm in NYC and am all ears to any specific
advise on who to bring it to.

Thanks for the help.
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  #2  
Old October 30th 03, 05:50 AM
Sheldon Brown
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Default frozen seat post....need recs on how to free

John Spellman wrote:
Frame is steel.
Seat post is aluminum.
Welded together from oxidation and rust.
LBS tried w pipe wrench, vice, and lubricants...all to no avail.
Bike is mid 80's vintage road bike....Suntour, lugged steel, etc.
Still looks and rides great, so I'd really like to salvage it.
Don't care if I damage the seat post.
Would prefer to keep frame damage to a minimum.

How do I free it?


See: http://sheldonbrown.com/stuck-seatposts.html

Sheldon "Unggggghhh!" Brown
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| If brute force doesn't work, you're not using enough! |
| --BOB Simon |
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
Harris Cyclery, West Newton, Massachusetts
Phone 617-244-9772 FAX 617-244-1041
http://harriscyclery.com
Hard-to-find parts shipped Worldwide
http://captainbike.com http://sheldonbrown.com

  #3  
Old October 30th 03, 05:53 AM
Pete
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Default frozen seat post....need recs on how to free


"John Spellman" wrote in message
om...
Frame is steel.
Seat post is aluminum.
Welded together from oxidation and rust.
LBS tried w pipe wrench, vice, and lubricants...all to no avail.
Bike is mid 80's vintage road bike....Suntour, lugged steel, etc.
Still looks and rides great, so I'd really like to salvage it.
Don't care if I damage the seat post.
Would prefer to keep frame damage to a minimum.

How do I free it? Blowtorch?
Who is best able/equipped to do it?
bike shop? frame builder? machine shop?


The Mad Monk probably has a solution (and avoidances) for you.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/stuck-seatposts.html

Pete



  #4  
Old October 30th 03, 07:12 AM
Tom Keats
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Default frozen seat post....need recs on how to free

In article ,
Sheldon Brown writes:

Sheldon "Unggggghhh!" Brown
+-------------------------------------------------------------+
| If brute force doesn't work, you're not using enough! |
| --BOB Simon |


I dunno, mebbe you've already heard it,
but a good tune to listen to sometimes, is
"Brute Force & Ignorance", by Rory Gallagher.

In the old days, when there were vinyl albums,
it was on his "Photo Finish" vinyl album.

There's some pretty good mandolin'ing in there,
and other nicely & sensibly-expressed seatpost-pulling
provocations & incentives. It's just an inspiring tune.

Good ol' Rory Gallagher. I dunno why, but his tunes
are so cyclistic. I think so, anyways.


cheers, & Unggggghhhh!
Tom

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  #5  
Old October 30th 03, 08:18 AM
Maurizio
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Default frozen seat post....need recs on how to free

"John Spellman" ha scritto nel messaggio
om...
Frame is steel.
Seat post is aluminum.
Welded together from oxidation and rust.


I tried every Sheldon Brown advice, no one worked.
The only device that worked was a drill. Use a 26mm cutter: it has to be
wider than the inner diameter of the seatpost but narrower than the inner
diameter of the seat tube.
Cut your seapost then introduce the cutter in it. It would be better to be
in a workshop and have the adequate "background" to perfectly align the
drill and the frame. If you are careful enough, the frame won't be damaged
and you'll extract the drill with the rest of the seatpost lovely coped with
the cutter.

Not easy at all, to be honest.

Ciao
Maurizio, Bologna, Italy


  #6  
Old October 30th 03, 09:29 AM
Tom Keats
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Default frozen seat post....need recs on how to free

In article ,
"Maurizio" writes:

Not easy at all, to be honest.


Wouldn't it be a bitch if holding the bike up by the seatpost
with one hand, and giving the top of the seat tube a
well-placed, sharp-but-not-destructive rap with a big, ol'
rolled-leather mallet with the other hand, accomplished the
same goal?

Vibrations in metal can work in inscrutably wonderful ways,
when given a fair chance to do their stuff.

How often do things really need to be reamed-out?


cheers,
Tom

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  #7  
Old October 30th 03, 09:55 AM
Zoot Katz
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Default frozen seat post....need recs on how to free

Thu, 30 Oct 2003 00:29:58 -0800, ,
(Tom Keats) wrote:

How often do things really need to be reamed-out?


I think that depends on how they often drive. But the big 'ol rawhide
mallet sounds like a good idea anyway.
--
zk
  #8  
Old October 30th 03, 10:09 AM
Sergio SERVADIO
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Default frozen seat post....need recs on how to free

On Thu, 30 Oct 2003, Maurizio wrote:
"John Spellman" ha scritto nel messaggio
Frame is steel.
Seat post is aluminum.
Welded together from oxidation and rust.

I tried every Sheldon Brown advice, no one worked.
The only device that worked was a drill.


Instead, I duplicated Mike's technique.
All I needed was a 'hack-less' saw, and a little over an hour of labor,
and I freed an otherwise beautiful Colnago frame.

Sergio
__________________________________________________ __________________________
From Thu Oct 30 10:04:31 2003
Date: 4 Apr 2003 12:04:50 -0800
From: Mike
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech
Subject: HELP! "Frozen" seatpost. IT'S OUT!

First, thanks for the ideas and encouragement.

How I got it out:

Since nothing else worked, I had to resort to "mechanical removal."
I cut off the post at the highest point possible, before it tapered to
"aero." Whoa! This baby had 5mm thick sidewalls (eventually tapering
down to 3mm at the post bottom, I would see later. It was an old
Shimano 600 or Dura-Ace). There would obviously be no "curling this
thing in on itself" after making a single vertical cut through the
post sidewall--not at over 3mm thick.

So I made SIX radial cuts (sort of like slicing a pizza), using a
Sawzall WITH EXTREME CAUTION, being careful not to cut completely
through the post. I then deepened two of adjacent cuts further using a
keyhole-type saw that's essentially a handle which accepts Sawzall
blades (invest a few bucks in one of these--it's very handy, and it
beats the heck out of trying to jerry-rig a hacksaw blade for these
kinds of jobs).

I then punched/pried the one section inward toward the post center.
Once it was out of the way, it was relatively easy to collapse the
post in on itself by squeezing it down to a smaller diameter, and out
it came. No damage to the frame, and about an hour total for the job.

Patience really was a virtue here, and having the right tools helped a
lot, too (when you need a Sawzall, there's nothing that beats a
Sawzall).

Of course, the seatpost I trashed was a 26.8, since I have only about
a half-dozen 27.2's in stock!

Thanks again. Hope this helps somebody else in the future.

Mike





(Mike) wrote in message m...
Well, I've finally encountered one I couldn't crack. Aluminum alloy
seatpost stuck in an older Aegis carbon frame. Looks like there's a
steel insert surrounding the post, 'cause I can see some rust.
Usually, if after trying various brands of "rust-busters" and WD-40
with no success, I take out the propane torch and heat the post, let
it cool, and out it comes.
I've reasoned that simply heating and therefore "expanding" the post,
only to let it cool again and contract, would buy me just enough
"space." Combine that with differing expansion coefficients and rates,
dissimilar metals, etc., etc., and you "break" the bond. I'm no
engineer, but it has never failed me before.
Well, not this time, even after trying all of the above repeatedly.
LAY YOUR BEST RECIPE ON ME!
Thanks,
Mike




  #9  
Old October 30th 03, 11:48 AM
DejaVU
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Default frozen seat post....need recs on how to free

John Spellman scribed in
:

Frame is steel.
Seat post is aluminum.


How do I free it? Blowtorch?


Nooooooooo
aluminum expands faster than steel, so heat will just make it stick
tighter.

Some liquid nitrogen or even solid carbon dioxide will cool it enough
to break the bond as the ali shrinks more than the steel.
don't hit it when frozen, it will crack

swarf, steam and wind

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