Removing stuck or seized seatpost?

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  • vinyl villain had this dine at a place inpatsons green, pm him although his frame is now missing some paint!

  • dont use generic oil or wd40.

    get some penertrating oil, soak the fucker, leave overnight or 24hrs and try then, repeat.

  • caustic soda works well, i used cillet bang on a stuck stem. Its worth a shot.

  • Hmm, slight hijack thread, but... I've got this thing. Carbon frame and aluminium seatpost, but the post's stuck. Really stuck. And I wanna fix this thing so bad.

    Any ideas?

  • Someone said to me that coke damages steel, he tried soaking his chain in it and it pitted the whole chain.
    Not sure weather to use it to get my alu post from my steel frame.
    So normal grease+carbon=:(?
    Is the proper stuff easy to get?

  • Erm....did the sawing thing - everything was great till i tried peeling the post out - and then it all went wrong. now it looks like the Sarlacc pit from starwars. Anyone have any idea what to do?? solutions that avoid stripping the paint would be nice! thanks!
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  • I'm not recommending this method for all bikes, but did you saw a slit down all the way along the seatpost?

    I'd say I got lucky in that the aluminium lug connecting the carbon tubes was strong and didn't get deformed. I think yours is slightly deformed?

    What worked for me was cutting all the way down along the seatpost as evenly as possible with only a microscopic sliver of aluminium connecting the strips of seatpost made by the slits.

    If you have reduced the diameter of the tube, a long nose pliers might give you the force u need to pull it out. But what do I know?

  • I've had a stuck seat post all of this week on a steel frame. I tried everything WD40 for days, then ammonia etc.

    Today I took it to a friends workshop and he put the seatpost in a vice, slightly crushing it. It still wouldn't twist. Then we hammered each side of the post quite hard round in a circle for a while and tried twisting the bike again and kept doing this untill we got the slightest bit of movement. Obviously from then on it was just more hammering and twisting.

    It was a complete bitch it get out all the way to the last point of the post! I could of never of got it done in my garden, so the moral of the story is find someone with a hench metal vice and selection of large hammers / mallets and ensure it's been soaked in as much penetrating lubricant before hand :)

  • I've had a stuck seat post all of this week on a steel frame. I tried everything WD40 for days, then ammonia etc.

    Today I took it to a friends workshop and he put the seatpost in a vice, slightly crushing it. It still wouldn't twist. Then we hammered each side of the post quite hard round in a circle for a while and tried twisting the bike again and kept doing this untill we got the slightest bit of movement. Obviously from then on it was just more hammering and twisting.

    It was a complete bitch it get out all the way to the last point of the post! I could of never of got it done in my garden, so the moral of the story is find someone with a hench metal vice and selection of large hammers / mallets and ensure it's been soaked in as much penetrating lubricant before hand :)

    I fully agree.
    Vices & large hammers are the way forward.

  • grrrr.

    having real issues with this at the moment, iw as off sick yesterday and by the afternoon i was bored out of my mind and ive been desperate to get my seatpost out as its been stuck and slightly wonky for nearly a year.

    Stupidly decided against the coca-cola option and went straight for sawing as i dont have the tool to remove BB etc, and wanted to be able to ride to work today.

    so gopt down to sawing, sawed through the seatpost about an inch over the top of the seatpost, and began to saw a slit down one side, got through that and then tryed to peel it inwards, only for that bit of the eatpost to snap off having stghtly seprated from the seat tube, did this another 2 tims and now have about a quarter of the seatpost remaining and about 1/2 cm of the psot peel of round the other 3/4 of the seat tube.

    dont want to risk the last bit as i'd be left with no leverage to get the post out the rest of the way, im aware that fauilure thus far is probably due to me no sawing through enough of the seat post thus far.

    so im thinking my next option is to get hold of the tools to remove my crankset and BB seal the gapeing hole that is the remainder of the seat post and pour in some cola, do i have a chance?

    and can anyone in S-east london lend me the requisite tools to remove campag record cranks and a centaur bottom bracket?

  • I fully agree.
    Vices & large hammers are the way forward.

    Maybe a stupid question but before I go out and buy one (got 2 frames I refuse to give up on), is a Black & Decker workmate/ similar sturdy enough for this kind tomfoolery, or am I just gonna do myself a mischief when I start swinging off the frame like a pole dancer?

  • Before you start I've just seen the Which Workstand thread, but the question still stands cos I'm CHEAP.

  • I removed a siezed seatpost a couple of months ago in about 30mins from start to finish.

    1. loosen seat post clamp/bolt
    2. drill hole right through both walls near base of seatpost large enough to fit a long 3/8 drive socket extension through
    3. lie the bike on its side and stand on various parts to steady it
    4. with large ball pein hammer hit the socket extention, thereby rotating the seatpost within the seat tube. About 10 very hard hits should see it move.
    5. flip bike over and repeat, turning the post in the opposite direction.

    The seat post is ruined but that's pretty much a given no matter what method you use.

    Note: a screwdriver through the hole will not work as you have to hit it so hard you will bend the screwdriver. Socket extention is thick enough and made from Chrome vanadium steel so will transfer the brute force and ignorance.

    no vices, no harmful chemicals, no waiting.

  • Any special tips for removing a carbon fibre seatpost from a steel frame?

  • I removed a siezed seatpost a couple of months ago in about 30mins from start to finish.

    1. loosen seat post clamp/bolt
    2. drill hole right through both walls near base of seatpost large enough to fit a long 3/8 drive socket extension through
    3. lie the bike on its side and stand on various parts to steady it
    4. with large ball pein hammer hit the socket extention, thereby rotating the seatpost within the seat tube. About 10 very hard hits should see it move.
    5. flip bike over and repeat, turning the post in the opposite direction.

    The seat post is ruined but that's pretty much a given no matter what method you use.

    Note: a screwdriver through the hole will not work as you have to hit it so hard you will bend the screwdriver. Socket extention is thick enough and made from Chrome vanadium steel so will transfer the brute force and ignorance.

    no vices, no harmful chemicals, no waiting.

    I think I shall have to resort to this method. My patience is done.

  • Only succeeded in tearing off the seat post. Gonna have to get me workmate and try hammering fcuk out of the post.

  • I removed a siezed seatpost a couple of months ago in about 30mins from start to finish.

    1. loosen seat post clamp/bolt
    2. drill hole right through both walls near base of seatpost large enough to fit a long 3/8 drive socket extension through
    3. lie the bike on its side and stand on various parts to steady it
    4. with large ball pein hammer hit the socket extention, thereby rotating the seatpost within the seat tube. About 10 very hard hits should see it move.
    5. flip bike over and repeat, turning the post in the opposite direction.

    The seat post is ruined but that's pretty much a given no matter what method you use.

    Note: a screwdriver through the hole will not work as you have to hit it so hard you will bend the screwdriver. Socket extention is thick enough and made from Chrome vanadium steel so will transfer the brute force and ignorance.

    no vices, no harmful chemicals, no waiting.

    this method could damage your frame though.

  • this method could damage your frame though.

    I wouldn't recommend this be done on a carbon or aluminium frame.

    Only succeeded in tearing off the seat post. Gonna have to get me workmate and try hammering fcuk out of the post.

    That must have been fairly stuck in there. Seeing as aluminum is much softer than steel I would very much doubt you could damage a steel frame with this method, as shown by the post above the seat post will simply break/tear if the corrosion bond cannot be broken. Unless of course the hammer makes contact with the frame.

    @Beanpie, the problem now will be avoiding damage to the frame when you start hammering as it will need to be somehow stitting/clamped/both to something totally solid. Might be best to go with the caustic soda dissolving option.

  • when buying my bike to restore i came across the same problem.. i just used a blow torch to heat up the frame making sure you dont let the metal go red but it seems to ease it out. only try this if your thinking of getting a re-spray also as the paint does not take kindly to the heat.

  • @Beanpie, the problem now will be avoiding damage to the frame when you start hammering as it will need to be somehow stitting/clamped/both to something totally solid. Might be best to go with the caustic soda dissolving option.[/QUOTE]

    Prob will. I'm tipping coke down the seat post but the problem is I haven't left myself much of the seat post to grab hold of...I'll prob keep topping up for a few more while I read up on the caustic soda method.

    Started to lose patience now, and it's sheer bloody-mindedness that's keeping me going.

  • ^^remember, safety first with caustic soda - tis horrible stuff

  • right so im going to do this this weekend.

    I want to do as little damage to the paint as possible, as i dont want to have to pay for a new paint job.

    so i will remove the Cranks and BB and pour in the solution of caustic soda, but i've sawed off most fo the seatpost trying a differnet method, so i will need some way of plugging the seatpost, what do people suggest i use?

    I'm thinking a plastic bag rammed into the remainder of the seatpost , and the tape up the top of the seat tube with electrical tape.

    i assume the caustic soda solution wont melt plastic, it will probably leave some of the seatpost alive but will be so little its possible to get out with a bit of brute force...

  • Caustic Soda worked for me eventually, coke was useless. I covered the seatpost hole with an old inner tube wrapped tightly over it and then round the frame a few times (it seems caustic soda has no effect on rubber???). I then poured boiling water and a few spoons of caustic soda through the bottom bracket 3 times a day for a week! It worked fine and the paint didn't even strip off on the bits I spilt! I wish I'd done this first instead of the hammer, saw, pliers, screwdriver methods...

  • I've got this same problem (although the fact I've got no wheels on my bike could be seen as a bigger problem), so thanks for the advice here.

  • i have a disaster on my hands - took a seized seat post to the bike shop , came back a few hours later and it has been cut completely at the base, and a smaller, 22.2 , seatpost, has been inserted into the frame. So basically they couldn't get it out, but how the fuck do i get it out now ?
    The 22.2 is shit, wrong angle, and this will fuck up either the frame soon.

    Oh, and to make things more fun this is my messenger work bike. GRRRRRRRR

    HELP!

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Removing stuck or seized seatpost?

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