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Old 05-29-20 | 11:06 AM
  #17  
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79pmooney
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Joined: Oct 2014
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From: Portland, OR

Bikes: (2) ti TiCycles, 2007 w/ triple and 2011 fixed, 1979 Peter Mooney, ~1983 Trek 420 now fixed and ~1973 Raleigh Carlton Competition gravel grinder

Originally Posted by dddd
Glad to see that your post came out without the head of the post twisting loose! I've got a Bob Jackson bike in my basement right now with an early genuine LaPrade post with it's pinned-joint head now too loose to ever use again (or to use for much more twisting attempts). The post has been stuck for some years and I've set that one aside for a while in contemplation of phase two (having thus far used penetrants and dry ice in conjunction with too much twisting of the two-piece post). My next go will involve some serious heat-cycling with another round of the dry ice.
Note that heat-cycling (a torch or heat gun applied to the post, just short of damaging paint or precious transfers) is by far most effective on the more deeply-inserted posts. The aluminum post expands lengthwise, breaking much of the bond. A penetrant added while cooling gets pulled in, and with twisting resumed when the post has cooled or (better yet) been chilled.

I had an absolute worst-case sort of stuck post, three years ago. An oversized(!) steel post pounded down into a Urago frame, probably during the early 1960's.

I couldn't really tell what was going on, other than that it simply would not budge even after much twisting force was applied periodically over several days, while PB Blaster was repeatedly applied to both ends, in conjunction with much thermal cycling using boiling water. This seemed really unlikely in that no stuck steel post had ever challenged me for long.

What eventually got it out was the roughly two tons of pure pulling force in conjunction with beating furiously on the seat tube using a 2# hammer on a piece of Trex material.
Amazingly, no dents or visibly scuffed paint resulted, and no undue stress to the seatstay attachment (other than the hammering vibration and previous twisting efforts).
The bb lug took all of the pulling stress, and held up to it!

I am still recalling the sound of neighbor's windows slamming shut in likely protest of the persistent, alcohol-fueled hammering resonance!
Truth be told, the drinking hadn't been going on for very long, the booze came out only AFTER I noted the first bit of post movement. I took a "celebration" break right there, then "went at it" in the manner of how I cut up a fallen oak limb with an axe just a month prior.



Wow! Did I see that right? A 2:1 tackle on a 4:1 tackle? 8:1 final?

I used to race 15' sailboats. I sailed my last one until it was tired enough that I didn't feel good about selling it so I stripped and junked it. I have a box of Harken and the like fittings. A few weeks ago I stretched webbing across my crawl space joists to hold insulation. Needed a block and tackle to get it tight. Found my old boom vang, a wire 2:1 pulled by a rope 4:1. Roller bearing blocks. Got a 1" piece of 1 X 4, screwed the vang to one side, a cam cleat to the other, a steel strap and the other end ot the plank, then just screwed the tang to a stud, tied a rolling hitch to the webbing and pulled. Really easy to get the webbing nice and snug, lying on my back on a stony surface. (Miserable job, but that part was fun!)

Now this block and tackle would not be up to your needed force, I;d have to settle for it pulling the real (and really strong) 2:1. 16: 1 but only about 4" take up. Good thing is that seatposts don't snap back to the original position when you slack off to shorten things up.

I'm keeping that plank, block and tackle, cleat and tang as is. Great little tool. Can't wait to use it again. (Actually I'd better! Could get expensive if I try "just seeing if I can pull my house apart".)

Ben
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