Breaking a binded seatpost
 

Hello all,

I'm wondering if I could get some tips on unbinding a binded seatpost. I've had this bike since the mid 90s and bought it with the seatpost binded. Fortunutely the seat is just at the right height to what I needed, so I never bothered to break the bond. But now I'm looking to replace the seatpost, so I need to unbind it.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=319611

Here's my plan of attack. Rotate the bike 180 degrees and let the seatpost soak in ice and water for 5 hours or more. Rotate the bike again at 180 degrees and lay it on it's side and pour boiling hot water right where the seat tube starts and expand the seat tube. At this point I'll try to break the bind with my trusty hammer*.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=319613

* Best dollar ever spent!

Anyone has any tips or suggestions on possibly tackling this? Even if there's a thread somewhere that would help would be appreciated.

Any and all responses are greatly appreciated.

For several reasons I don't think the temperature differences will do the trick. A 180 degree difference just isn't enough. I would soak it down with PBS Blaster for a day or so and then put a big ass plumbers pipe wrench on the seat post.

After being seized up for so long there is a good chance nothing will work and you will end up with a mangled seat post stuck in the frame.

Soak the post in pb blaster for a day or two. The flip the bike over and put the end of the seat post in a BIG vise. Then use the frame of the bike as leverage, try twisting it to break the bond.

Oh yeah, that hammer looks like a rubber hammer. That will be like farting against a hurricane, the hammer won't make one bit of difference. If it was a solid 5 pound iron sledge, then yes, that might work.

The most successful method for freeing aluminum seat posts that are chemically bound in steel frames, is ammonia. You have to try ammonia first, beacuse other methods such as penetrating oils will prevent it from working. Since your post is closed on top, trun the bike over, and pout ammonia down into the seat tube via the BB.

Give it 24-48 hours to do it's thing then put the post in a vise, and try turning the frame. If you get any movement at all, you're halfway home. But be careful over working the process will heat the post and set you back. So work the frame back and forth, while lifting, but keep checking the temperature, and rest it when it's hot to the touch.

Worst case scenario, you can always cut the post off and use a reamer to remove it in stages.

I've had mixed luck removing stuck posts. I tried ammonia once and it didn't work. You have a nice Columbus frame which is definitely worth saving.

I would try the post-in-a-vise trick first, using the frame as leverage. Before you do anything that might destroy the frame I would pay someone to ream it out. Again, it would be a shame to wreck that frame.

Yea, grip the remnant of the seatpost in a bench vise, and twist the frame Off of it.



Recent update, I observed, a friend's Peugeot, badly corroded,
the post would not Budge But the brazing attaching of the seat stay tops would give way, first..

So the paint is going anyhow to both heat the steel to re braze
as well as try to break the seized post loose..

People: grease those aluminum posts in steel frames , take it out and redo it occasionally ..

Thanks for the replies. The problem on the vise suggestion is I don't really have a work shop or a vise, so that might be a problem. I definitely don't want to ruin my frame as it's a good existing example of a classic. I might just start looking at hiring someone as was suggested. I'll start shopping for that and see what I come up with.

Hopefully there will be more suggestions voiced.

PS: I do like the ammonia suggestion.

See if there's a bike co-op in the area. Many of these do this kind of work quite a bit on salvaged bikes and some of the staff gets very good at it. In any case, they're likely to be much less expensive for this kind of job than most bike shops.

I would soak with penetrating oil from both ends top and inside BB for a few days then try twisting it out or as others have mentioned ways to tackle this.
If that does not work it looks like a lot of the seat post is exposed so the section inside the seat tube is not really that long.

I would cut off most of that seat post leave enough for grab with a pipe wrench or other tool of choice, then from the inside carefully take a hacksaw blade and slice groves thru the post all the way to the seat tube add some penetrating oil if done correctly that section will crack off if hit, at that point oils will work in much better if needed cut more out, it will come out at some point.
I have done this a few times but it will take time and skill.

............................:D

14 Ways to Unstick a Seatpost

..........also, Freeze Off is your friend. Get it at any auto parts store.
But if it's been stuck this long, I kinda think you'll need the bench vise.

http://static.pepboys.com/images/pro...1100/05002.jpg

I've had better success with putting in a trashed out saddle, removing everything except the saddle rails,
then bending them into a configuration that you can grip in the vice jaws. Less slippage, more torque,
and if you are lucky that day, you can save the post.

I think though that the type of seat post that the OP has is better suited to be placed in the vise compared to say a plain round seat post. It doesn't look like anything special as well, I would probably wouldn't worry about saving it.

IME, saddle rails aren't strong enough for truly frozen posts. If you can get it out by twisting a saddle, given the amount of leverage offered, I think it barely qualifies to be called a frozen post.

If you don't have a vise, a large pipe wrench on the post, just above the frame is the next best choice. However, whether you use a vise and turn the frame, or use a pipe wrench on the post, you'll have enough torque available to twist the frame, so use some judgement regarding how hard you twist that puppy.

Not talking about twisting a saddle........we're talking about putting bare steel saddle rails into the clamp on the post
in order to extend the surfaces you can grip in the vise. I can assure you it works, and that the rails get bent all to hell,
but it doesn't much matter if the post breaks free.

If you think you can get a better grip on a bare post, by all means do so.

At the OP......any twisting motion will work far more effectively than hammering,
which I think someone has already said is like a fart in a windstorm in this situation.

OK I got another plan of attack. I called my one and only LBS that I would trust and talked to them. I did buy a bike from them so I didn't feel too bad about picking their brains. I'm going to take the bike apart and let it soak with this penetrating oil suggested by them, Kano Kroil Penetrating Oil. If that doesn't work it's probably the Bike Kitchen in LA and get some real leverage there. BTW, they are saying to let the oil soak for at least a week.

Letting it soak is great but you still will have to use either a big pipe wrench or a big vise solidly mounted to the bench to give it the leverage enough to break it free.

Ammonia, Yup.
 

I just freed a frozen seatpost on a salvaged 1995 Schwinn Cane Creek rigid fork MTB for a friend. Removed crankset and bb, inverted frame in work stand, used hypodermic syringe with a plastic tube (frame had small bb shell openings on inner tube joints), poured in maybe 6 ounces of ammonia (not knowing the seatpost length, but filling up to a bottle mount hole), and waited 72 hours.

It was a LaPrade type seatpost, so had nice parallel sides to clamp into my large bench vice, frame upward. One good twist of the frame, and it gave way. The vice was good for holding the seatpost head as I lifted and twisted the frame, inching the seatpost out of the seat tube.

This method has worked for me before. PG

Worst stuck post I ever tackled was an aluminum post that had been in a steel frame for 20+ years without ever being moved. The bike had a hard life and spent a lot of time outdoors and that post was stuck. Tried ammonia first (that never has worked for me) and then Coca-Cola (phosphoric acid) again nada. Liquid wrench didn't do anything either, even after 48 hours of repeated application from both directions. I finally resorted to using a metal cutting blade in a demolition saw to hack the post off with a couple inches left protruding. Then I slipped the long thin blade down the inside of the seat post and carefully cut until I sawed through the post to the frame. The blade was a little dull and cut the aluminum well but you could tell the second you hit steel. I did this three more times cutting about 95% of the way through the seat tube. I took my biggest ViseGrip and crushed the first section of seatpost next to the complete cut inward and then worked my way around crushing the seatpost remnant in on itself. Penetrating oil, crush, twist, curse, repeat and finally a "snap" as the post broke completely loose and could be lifted out. I cleaned up the inside of the seat tube with emery cloth on a dowel and some more penetrating oil. When I was done there was one small nick in the very top of the seat tube and a couple of very light surface scratches. I rode that bike for a year after putting in a new seatpost before selling it to a college kid who is still using it as a daily commuter.

Be careful applying a lot of force, especially when using the frame itself as a lever. Even with vintage steel, it is still possible to bend a frame.

Naval jelly rust remover also works very good after applying it follow with penetrating oil and give it a try.
Your in LB?

Braking Daves well crafted seat stay brazing wouldnot be a good thing! Better to loose the post. Good luck and let us know what worked!

Yes JT, I've been living in LB for over 20 years now.

I took my bike apart and really glad I did. The bearings in the headset were bone dry! Took almost the whole bike to pieces with my multi-tool I carry with me on bike rides. Gives one a good idea of what they can do with what they have.

I'm going to give the ammonia suggestion a try. If more than one person suggests it then I feel I should heed the suggestion. It's going to take a few days to get the Kroil oil. So this can only do some good.

And yes bobotech, I'll more than likely have to go the co-op I mentioned for some real torque, but not until the bike been sitting with the penetrating oil for at least a week.

I'll update this when there's a break.

PS: After taking the bottom bracket off I noticed that it would be easy for me to pour whatever I had into the seatpost cause it's open inside the bottom bracket shell.

It's lucky that you have to wait for the Kroil, which is probably the best of this category of product. I say that because while ammonia has mixed results (don't look for miracles), it definitely doesn't work if you use any oil first. Penetrating oils fill all the nooks and crannies and are very effective at keeping ammonia from getting where you need it.

The reverse isn't true, and you can use oil after ammonia. Since you have to wait anyway, let the ammonia do it's thing until the Kroil arrives.

Well I made it to the shop mentioned above, The Bicycle Kitchen, and it didn't break loose yet. The suggestion and I kinda like it and I think I'll pursue it, is to use dry ice on the outside of the stem. There's alot of the stem exposed and what I'm hoping will happen is the coldness will travel on into the part in the frame and shrink just a little. They had a pretty big vise there and I was able to put quite a bit of torque on it. To the point where I could see the top tube bending just a bit. What happened before my visit to the shop was that I had ammonia in the seat tube for about three days and then my Kroil oil came to me through ebay. I cleaned things up pretty well and made sure it was dry, then I dumped almost the whole bottle of oil into the seat tube via the inside of the bottom bracket. It was in there soaking for over 10 days. Twice a day I tilted and rotated the seat tube, just to be sure the oil was at the aluminum and steel face. It stopped me from worrying that all the oil might be just sitting inside the seatpost and doing nothing. The oil was dumped and saved and I'll probably put it back into the seatpost and give it a few days to soak again.

I have a few parts that I am looking for and I happened to lose one of these parts today. The parts are as follows with any notes are after the pic of the part.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=323444
This was one of the two pulleys. It's in really bad shape and I need to replace it with the proper pulley. The derailleur is a RD 7401.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=323445

This is the second pulley on the derailleur. It's in great shape and I'm pretty sure if I find another one like this, that would be acceptable and work fine?

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=323448
Here are the "barrel adjusters"? I'm looking to replace one or both. Would like to keep with the same design. This is from a BR 7400.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=323449

Here are the "screw rear dropout". It's incomplete as shown. I'm looking for the wingnut screw.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=323450

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=323451

This is the part that I ended up losing today. I didn't know how these stayed on and I thought they just pressed on. When I torqued on the frame today trying to get off my seatpost, these ended up "popping off". They flew and I was lucky to recover one of them at the Bicycle Kitchen. I don't have a clue what I should enter for the search parameters on ebay. They were part of the 7 speed Dura Ace downtube shifters. I don't even know if this is the left or right side, if that even matters.

Any help on putting in the correct search parameters on ebay would help tremendously on this item or any of the items mentioned. A little on the bike I'm working on. It was a racing bike from the late 80s, a Lux Fuso. I pretty much got the bike complete with just about all original parts. The seatpost and handlebar stem isn't a Dura Ace 7400 era and I'm replacing those parts. I still have the original wheels with 36h Mavic and DA hubs that are still rideable. I've "updated them to 28/32h DA hubs that are used more nowadays and look sexier too. Eventually I want to have all the parts correct period parts (DA 740X) except maybe the seat and pedals.

Thanks for reading this long post and feel free to comment with any opinion you may like. It will be most welcomed. :thumb:

I don't get it. When I look at my post above I can't see the pics of the attachments. I just see "Attachment 32344X" but when I try to correct the post, I see my pics correctly. :bang: I guess I'll upload the pics on flickr acc so I can show them.

OK so they've been uploaded to flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/8168607@N02/

I hope that helps.