t_constantine@h

Hi,

I have a 2019 Giant TCR which which has the seteatpost stuck in place, and I just can't seem to shift it - help!! It's a carbon d-section post and carbon frame. It's not been moved in about 2yrs, hence probably why I'm having troubles now... I've tried:

1. undoing the wedge bolt a few turns and tapping (then hitting quite hard) with a mallet to try and dislodge the lower section of wedge. It won't budge.
2. Twisting and rocking the seat post with the saddle to try and release where it's seized.
3. Poured hot water over the area to see it temperature expansion/contraction helps
4. Loads of gt85 and plusgas
5. Whacking the u/s of the saddle clamp to hit the seat post upwards and out. This has shifted it about 5mm, but I'm having to hit it pretty hard and I don't want to do that much more. The movement that has occurred hasn't released the clamp.
6. Hooking a spoke into the top half of the wedge to try and pull that bit out

Any more ideas?? The fact the post has shifted slightly makes me feel hopeful that it's not seized into the frame along it's whole length, so it seems the stuck-tight wedge is the problem. Drilling it out seems extreme but I'm not finding many other alternatives...

Crankycrank

Try tightening the clamp bolt slightly which may break any bond in the wedge parts allowing them to come apart.

Andrew R Stewart 

Before you go too far you might want to seek out a replacement post. Being a carbon one it will be easier to cut it out of the frame than an AL post is. Jab saws can be a frustrating last resort. Andy

Iride01 

Take it to a Giant dealer and let them handle it. Then you'll have more protection if something bad happens. Some seat posts have some oddball ways of handling the way the saddle attaches and/or angle is adjusted. Might be that you aren't understanding something.

And if you are talking about raising the seat post, then is this the lower tier models of TCR that actually has a seat post. The higher tier models you cut off the seat tube and only have a little bit of adjustment.

veganbikes

As Andrew R Stewart said find replacements first. Because Giant loves their proprietary seatpost designs, make sure you can find new parts that will fit and either make sure they have good supply or buy them right then and there. However you will probably be at a Giant Dealer so you might consider chatting with them and seeing if they can help.

If you can get movement out of the seatpost I would try moving it up and out, maybe some good whacks with a mallet on the under side of a junk saddle with the bike upside down (IN A STAND) a little extra gravity might help (you might also try a couple whacks the other way on the top as well just make sure you can loosen any bonds you might have made. If you had movement I would say try and turn it a bunch to get out but Giant put a kibosh on that method but whacking top and bottom might help loosen it. If the bolt was stuck I would say use an impact gun and pull it right out. We had a stuck bolt and the mechanics kept breaking t25s so I said let's try the impact and boom it was out in a second with no broken tool. It needed the quick power that our weak human arms couldn't provide.

t_constantine@h

Took a good few hours, of work but I've managed to sort it out finally!

I used a Dremmel with a cutting bit to grind away the top section of the wedge around the bolt hole, trying to remove the whole rear part of the wedge (which is the thinner end). This was painstaking and high stakes as I really didn't want to damage the carbon frame. I also tried drilling a hole in the flat top piece, and then screwed in a long screw, gripped it with some pliers and rocked it, plus hit it upwards with a hammer. And that top part of the wedge came free!

The small middle piece came out fairly easily, but the lower piece was stuck firm. Even with 2/3rds of the wedge gone, the seatpost would not budge when whacked again with the mallet.

Given how deep this piece is in the frame, it was hard to get the Dremmel in, so I reverted to the tactics that worked for the top part. This lower section is threaded, and using a QR skewer, I fixed it into the wedge piece, and suspended the frame upside down. Using some pliers again to grip the skewer, I hammered a few sharp downward blows and it slowly came free.

With the wedge fully removed, the post came out easily. What a relief! No significant damage, but the scuffed post probably could do with replacement having been hit so much with the mallet...

So there you go - probably could have skipped the Dremmel cutting and shortcut straight to the drill/screw/hammer technique.

Carbon paste on order, and lesson learned!

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soyabean

Yup. Always use the right stuff. Never grease.