Bicycle Mechanics - removing stubborn seat post

I have a strange question.

I recently picked up an old Raleigh frame from the garbage. I am building it into a singlespeed for my girlfriend (its a very small frame for a small girl) I am done except for one thing....I CANT GET THE SEATPOST OUT of the frame. I have tried saturating it with WD-40 and trying to pull it out. I have tried loosening it with a hammer, I have tried prying open around the seatpost with a screwdriver and a hammer....but nothing is working, this thing will just not budge.

I have tools but nothing too high tech. Does anyone have any tricks to pull this seatpost out?

any information would probably be helpful....I want to get this thing out of my living room and onto the streets of philly asap!

thanks

maybe you could drill a hole through the seat post, then put something through the hole like a metal rod so you can try and twist it out... after you let it soak in oil over night. if you want some help lemme know, im probably just around the corner! :beer:

If you don't mind repaint, you can try heating the area of the frame the seatpost sits in. Try using a pipe wrench on the post and a burly freind to hold the frame by the main triangle(might bend the stays if you hold it by them.

Or, buy a sixpack of your favorite brew and a hacksaw blade(24 teeth if it is an alloy post 32t if it is steel). Get comfortable, cut the top of the post about two inches from the frame and start sawing a slot down the length of the inside of the post. They make a handle to hold hackasw blades by the end and I have a couple but I prefer to just wrap it in a rag. Saw for a bit and then check you progress with a flash light. If you are lucky one slot will do it. If not cut another about a quarter inch from the first, then pop this piece out and crush the post to pop it free. Now celebrate by drinking all six beers. :eek: You could also use the beer to bribe someone else to do all the work. :D

If you don't mind repaint, you can try heating the area of the frame the seatpost sits in. Try using a pipe wrench on the post and a burly freind to hold the frame by the main triangle(might bend the stays if you hold it by them.

Or, buy a sixpack of your favorite brew and a hacksaw blade(24 teeth if it is an alloy post 32t if it is steel). Get comfortable, cut the top of the post about two inches from the frame and start sawing a slot down the length of the inside of the post. They make a handle to hold hackasw blades by the end and I have a couple but I prefer to just wrap it in a rag. Saw for a bit and then check you progress with a flash light. If you are lucky one slot will do it. If not cut another about a quarter inch from the first, then pop this piece out and crush the post to pop it free. Now celebrate by drinking all six beers. :eek: You could also use the beer to bribe someone else to do all the work. :D


ive used that method with a BB cup. i used a dremel though. it took a very very long time, and more than 6 beers :)

I've heard of taking out the bottom bracket, turning the frame upside-down and dripping Liquid Wrench into the seat tube and letting it sit that way overnight. The work like hell to twist it out of the seat tube.

Had a similar problem a few years back and Liquid Wrench (any auto or hardware store) helped and putting a crummy old saddle on the seatpost and using that as a lever freed the seatpost.

Good luck and don't strain any muscles in the process.;)

6 pack bribe eh? hmmmm....well, how about it "Legalize_It". I live on 13th and Pine and I have a cold 6 pack of PBR tall boys in my fridge....they are all yours if you can get this thing free!....well, unless i drink them tomorrow....which I probably will. HAHAHA

I liked the idea of drilling through it and trying to get a metal bar to twist this thing free. I did take a torch to it (a propane torch...dont tell my landlord I have it here) but it didnt loosen the metal at all.....now that I think about it, i may have just sealed it in there MORE. Ugh....all this just for a stupid beater bike that my girlfriend may never use. hahahahaha

I may just bring this thing to my job and see if the guys in the shop can get me a metal bar that I can drill through it and start twisting.

THANKS for all the tips everyone!

6 pack bribe eh? hmmmm....well, how about it "Legalize_It". I live on 13th and Pine and I have a cold 6 pack of PBR tall boys in my fridge....they are all yours if you can get this thing free!....well, unless i drink them tomorrow....which I probably will. HAHAHA

I liked the idea of drilling through it and trying to get a metal bar to twist this thing free. I did take a torch to it (a propane torch...dont tell my landlord I have it here) but it didnt loosen the metal at all.....now that I think about it, i may have just sealed it in there MORE. Ugh....all this just for a stupid beater bike that my girlfriend may never use. hahahahaha

I may just bring this thing to my job and see if the guys in the shop can get me a metal bar that I can drill through it and start twisting.

THANKS for all the tips everyone!

id be glad to help you out, and i like PBR.... im not doing anything tomorrow if you want some help. im at 24th and parrish. i have a bike shop going on in my basement, you should bring the frame by. we can do it tonight even if you feel like it!

While working as a wrench on the Pan Mass Challenge a few years back, a rider came in on a Seven with a seatpost that had snapped off right at the seat tube collar. He had overtightened one of those oversized seat bags that snaps onto a clamp around the seatpost. Anyway, I had a spare seatpost of the right diameter, but had to find a way to remove the stub. I thought about it for a minute, and decided that the jbends of a pair of spokes MIGHT be able to grab the bottom of the post. I put them in, jammed a stick down in there to hold them in place, and used a Vice Grip to pull the post out. Fortunately, the bike had been fairly well maintained, and there was enough grease on the post to keep it from becoming one with the frame. The point is, you will find a way to get the darned thing apart.

Ammonia is the stuff to dissolve the corrosion products you get between aluminum and steel. I have used it successfully. The difficulty is getting it to soak down between the seatpost and the seat tube - I like bikeman's idea of going by the bottom bracket.

My Aegis had the same problem (my fault). What I ended up doing was removing the seat, turning the frame upside down and clamping down on the seat post with a worktable vise (not sure this is the right term) then with the help of a neighbor, we turned the frame and pushed up at the same time. We finally successfully removed the DuraAce seat post after a couple of 6 packs and a lot of sweat! This process didn't do my seat post much good but at least it was removed. I make darn sure there is plenty of grease in there now.

everything i've done has been posted-shoot.
O.k..
IF the post had not come out of my kids bike w\ the pipe wrench-I was...

You need:
A funnel.
A hacksaw
A torch
A bucket of water and ice
a big hammer
a friend
a pipe wrench.
w-d 40

Put the beer in the ice water.
Cut the post off below the seat,look down the tube.
Have a beer with you friend.
Spark the torch, heat only the post-till the frame, where the 2 meet is too hot to touch. 140 say.
Give your friend another beer, turn the bike upside down, put only the post into the water say 30 sec.
Right side the bike, put the funnel into the post hole-fill tube-post with ice water- wait a few min till the post is cooler (the frame tube where they collar should be hotter) pour out water and smack the post all directions and one good heavy smack right on top. W-D 40 and get the pipe wrench and start tuurrrning it while pulling upward with your friend holding the frame.
If this expansion- contraction technique does not work, finish the remaining beer with friend and go out and find another cheap frame for your girlfriend.

It sounds as though it has seized in the tube. If the post is aluminum and the frame is steel then this is more than likely the issue. Try some penitrating spray, not WD-40, or Liquid Wrench. If you take the Bottom Bracket out, some frames have a drain hole from the seat tube into the bottom bracket shell. If so in your case, plug the seat post with something if necessary and then flood the seat tube from the inside. Turn the frame upside down for this and fill that baby up. Let is sit over night and give it a slight wack (inward) to free it and then use a pipe wrench to twist it out if it does not pull out. You will need a friend to hold the seat tube and head tube while you wrench on it.

Good luck. This sucks and I've been there before.

Marc

I'm surprised that no one mentioned this so here goes:

If you have a cheapo seat like one of those bmx seats from the 80 lying around. Install it on the stuck seatpost. Make sure you grease the rails of the seatpost since you will need to tighten it to the seatpost securely.

ONce you do this, get that hammer you have if you have a sledge hammer or a hammer with a lot of leverage(i.e. long handle) would be better, then start whacking the heck out of the seat from side to side. Pour some penetrating oil like 3-in-1 oil into the seat collar. Then start whacking the heck out of the seat some more. Remember never to hit it so it drives the seat inwards towards the seat tube, but always sideways. You should start to see the seat move. Keep at it. I once had to get a seat out of a Univega frame that I sold on ebay and Man it was an epic ordeal, but I finally did get the sucker out.

This method is by far the most low tech, but it usually works. I would try this method first and then try some of the more extreme methods mentioned on this thread.

Good LUck

You could try Tri-Flow. I got a stuck stem out using it.