sreynolds1977

I have an older Laprade fluted seatpost on my 1983 Expedition that has stripped adjuster splines. I was going to replace it when I remembered a product called Mr Grip and thought I would give it a try first. Mr Grip is a product made from small sheets of rough textured steel (textured like a cheese grater) that is intended to be inserted in oversized screw holes in wood so that the original size screw can be reused. The sheets are small, perhaps 3/4" by 2", textured on both sides and can be cut with ordinary scissors. Best of all a package of enough strips to do at least 6 seats cost only $1.75 at Home Depot. All that is really required to fix a seat adjuster is to cut two strips and position them on either side of the clamp bolt hole on the adjuster, then reassemble the post and tighten securely. The textured surface of Mr Grip bites into both halves of the worn adjuster splines and prevents movement.

pressed001

Nice. Saves you some cash but I do wonder how long it will last.

3alarmer 

.
...I think this a pretty good kludge. My guess would be that the repair strips are hard enough to bite into the aluminum surfaces on both sides of contact, and there's every possibility it could last for a long time. While it's true that the Mr Grip thingies will flatten out some, all they really have to do is provide some additional surface adhesion. Probably need to replace them if you do any saddle angle adjustment.

sreynolds1977

My Expedition's stripped seat splines used to move out of position every week or so. It's been about a month since I installed Mr. Grip and it hasn't moved yet.
Adjustment with Mr. Grip is tricky, you have to get it right the first time or you have to separate the splines halves before readjusting, otherwise the strips can move out of position.

canklecat

Yup. I knew a guitar tech who used that and sanding mesh screens to repair bolt-on necks when the owner wanted to keep the original bits and pieces. Shimmed warped necks that had to be planed and refretted, and the textured shims prevented shifting and going out of tune.

Paramount1973 

Nice fix. I would glue one face of the strip with CA glue to allow easier repositioning.

sreynolds1977

Great idea!

sreynolds1977

Just an update here. I recently had to replace my saddle and decided to try a different brand. I was unable to to get the angle adjustment correct with the Laprade seat post, so I replaced the seat post. The Mr Grip hack was still holding strong though and had never moved.

danmyersmn

I think it would hold indefinitely. The groves of the post still have some texture to them.the Mr grip would deform into these the grooves and lock in place.