wrk101

I get about a half dozen stuck posts a year, I thought I had seen them all.

This one is a new one. Typically, if I can turn the seat post in the frame, it will come out, and usually, once I can rotate the frame a full 360 degrees, the post will be out in about a minute.

I cut out posts that refuse to budge, despite encouragement. I have learned to not encourage it too much (damaged a frame once, oops).

This one was completely stuck initially, but with the addition of Kroil, and some gentle persuasion, it started to move. Now it moves pretty freely, I can rotate it around and around, no problem. I've got the seat post mounted on my large bench vise, with the main frame attached (everything else stripped off the bike).

The problem is that the post will not move up or down. It just turns at a set height. Seat tube does not appear to be bulged, and the post measures 27.0mm.

Before I cut this bad boy out, has anyone else had this problem?

Its been rotating freely since Saturday. I spin it around several times, lube it up with Kroil, and let it sit for a while. Seat tube does warm up while I am working it.


Bike is a 1984 Trek 520, Reynolds 501 tubing. I paid typical stuck post price for it.

puchfinnland

Bill,can you wack it in further, then you might get some up and down movement going?
I once pulled the bb, just so I could get under the post and soak it from that end also.

mike

wrk101

I thought about giving it a wack inward, I still am hoping it will just come out. BB is out, maybe I'll ease some Kroil in that way.

Chombi

I suspect that theres a ledge of aluminum oxide hooking on to more corrosion, that's keeping you from pulling out the post, but letting you spin it. You have to break up that corrosion ledge with some impact force and additional doses of penetrant. Find something metal to hook on to the head/clamp assembly of the post and hit it upwards (or downwards, depending on the position of the frame) with a dead blow mallet, to break up the corrosion further and pull out the post.

sailorbenjamin

Yeah, that and turn it upside down and oil it from the bottom through the BB

ftwelder

Cut and split.

23skidoo

Hark!! The Voice of Experience Speaketh

Chombi

I dunno,........killing a nice seatpost feels like killing kittens to me sometimes.......save the kitten!

roadrunner2012

If it moves, it will come out. Put a sacrificial saddle on it, wedge it in the crook of a tree and pull.

zandoval 

Stuck posts - Sometimes its just your turn - I would not be surprised if some big cities had a shop specifically niched for this dilemma - Good Luck...


Is there a patron saint for stuck posts???

Velognome 

Think ya cut a ridge into it maybe? Tap it in and it should twist back out.

dveneman

How about attaching a slide hammer and try a little tap tap?

wrk101

Part of the problem is my bench is not bolted to the wall or floor. That's a modification I will make later. So even though the vise and bench are large, I tend to chase them across the floor while pulling (a tree would work better).

Since the bench is in the living room of my duplex, not yet ready to bolt it down.

roadrunner2012

Which is why you put a crap saddle on it and wedge it in the crook of a tree. I'm sure you can find a tree with an appropriate space in it to wedge the saddle and then twist and pull.

Bianchigirll 

I would even try the saddle bit and just stand on it. Then you can twist and pull up a bit with the frame or vice versa

Chombi

Good you're in NC, as the green police in parts like here in CA might not take kindly to people "attacking" trees with their bikes....

dddd

My own experience suggests Chombi is right, and Velognome's following quote does also explain the seatpost behavior I've seen:
"Think ya cut a ridge into it maybe? Tap it in and it should twist back out."

I've used toe straps (several as needed) to hang frames by their stuck posts from an outdoor stair-rail, hanging from the post head.

I can then have a large helper put a hundred or more pounds of gravitational force on the frame, so that my further post-twisting efforts cause the post to move vertically.
I've even done this by myself, but the gymnastics were abusive to the old sleleton to say the least, leaving me with wrist soreness and bruises from the frame slapping around while I pushed down on the bb junction with my foot while twisting the post with an 18" adj wrench.
The posts always came out.

Lascauxcaveman 

I like this. Especially if it involves a really beefy helper, a six-pack, and a boombox playing some loud and obnoxious metal.

I'm almost hoping to run into a really stuck seatpost, so I can try it. All the ones I've has to persuade came out easy enough after a day or two of basting in PB blaster.

cyclotoine

there is an amazing product from Wurth called rost-off ice which super cools and it really works on stuck posts. I used it many times in the shop and sometimes two of us would be pulling and twisting with the post in the vice and would eventually get it out. We save a very special custom quintana roo Tri bike with 650 wheels for a food customer... I was one of the hardest I have done. I did the cut an split once and I'll never do it again. You can get the post out with the right product and right tools.

randyjawa 

After severely damaging a late sixties Torpado frame, I never try to force a seat post or steering stem! I learned the hard way and, kitten or no kitten, I prefer to save the mommy cat. Wait till you pop the seat stay loose and see how you feel then. Or twist up a fork, thanks for fork forcing.

Nope, for me, the force will be with me, only if I do not force the component.

Velognome 

When I lived in WV, the pulling woulda been done with a pick'm up truck and beer.........aaahhhhh youthful endeavors......remember to protect the rear window wth a piece of plywood or something....just in case something breaks loose

wrk101

I will give this bad boy one more day, then its time to "cut" my losses.

I am painting a greenhouse right now anyway, with 38 wood windows. Oh joy! So its not hurting anything to wait (and I have a huge pile of other bikes to work on).

jonwvara 

It's St. Jude, I think.

triathloner

If it is aluminum post stuck in a steel frame I like to pull the bottom bracket, invert the bike, and pour ammonia down the seat tube if it is a sealed seat post, give it about two or three days and usually the ammonia eats the corrosion, and a little pulling/twisting gets it out fine.

noglider 

This happened to me a couple of weeks ago. The seatstay BROKE apart.