NEED HELP!!!! I'm STUCK!!!!
 

So today i went on my usual vintage road bike hunt and came up with some nice finds. I got a hold of two peugeots for a screaming deal.

One of them is a blue frame with orange peugeot lettering in need of cleaning and new tires and so on.

The second is a beautiful UO 9 in a light grey color, with a very good paint job, with almost no rust and a nice half chrome fork, but for some reason there's a mountain bike handlebar with mountain bike brakes on it. But i saw how good the rest of the components were still so i looked past that remember that i still have alot of drop bars and brake levers that i can switch it out with to make her back to her normal self.

So as excited as i was i bring it back home and start working on the UO9 right away, i switch out the handbars and start cleaning it up a bit. i start polishing the new dropbars and brake levers and everything is going as smooth as butter.... this day couldn't get better!!

i look over at the seat and i'm like, hmmm why is it so low, so i undo the seat bolt clamp so i can raise the seat, only one problem, IT'S STUCK!!!, NNNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOOO......

so after trying to move it and twist it with all my might with the seat on the seat post it didn't budge one bit. Then i was looking, staring at it for a while, humming and hawing at it, i still can't get it loose. it looked like someone may have tried before me cause it looks like there's some vice grip marks left on the tube.

I need some advice on getting this seat post out!!!

I've heard of co2 and trying to freeze it so it contracts, but has anyone tried that, or what methods have worked for you and we do you guys recommend, any suggestions and help would be GREATLY APPRECIATED.

I really don't want to see this bike go to waste, it's soooo gorgeous!!!

i will post pics tomorrow sometime.


**********************UPDATE***********************
********************NEW STUFF**********************

Hey i just wanted to thank you guys for all the help and advice i got.

Anyways here's the update, i went to Canadian Tire, (for you Americans, it's like a crappy car/tire/sports/home all in one type of store, maybe like a Target?), so i went there to pick up some PB blaster for $7.99cdn for the can and 2 hacksaw blades for $1.24 each.

My seat post is aluminum by the way, i could tell because of how soft it was when i sawed it.

I got home and sprayed the crap out of the seatpost, about every 10 mins or so for an hour, after each spray i tried to move and twist it but it didn't budge. About 1.5 hours later i was pretty frustrated so i tossed the PB blaster can aside and grabbed the hacksaw. I then declared war with me and the seat post.

I started sawing the top of the post off leaving a 2 mm gap between where i sawed the top part off and the top of the seat tube. Then i proceed to put the blade into the seatpost tube sawing up and down lengthwise of the tube. The seat post was about 19cms stuck inside the seat post, so it was kind of deep, i sawed my face off for 1 hour and 15 minutes till it got really dark and until i couldn't take getting ***** by mosquitos anymore, I called it a wrap around 10:30 pm, i could definitely hear the seat post laughing and snickering at me.

This morning i woke up still with this seat post issue on my mind bugging me as much as those mosquitos were last night. I ate my wheaties and had an apple so that seat post new it was in for trouble. After about another 20 mins of sawing i finally cut the tube. I proceeded to cave the tube in on itself with the help of pliers, then where the pliers could not reach i used a really long iron drill bit with an arrow end but narrow body (This tool was a huge key to my success), i hammered this down the seat tube to help fold one side of the seat tube in, then i repeated for the other side of the cut, i grabbe vice grips and proceeded to try to move it again, and i felt the feeling of victory, it didn't come out right away it took some twisting still and spinning the tube, but finally i got it out.

Me 1, seat post 0

Click on the images for a bigger picture.

This is the seat tube now, there's no damage luckily.
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=170767

These are the tools i used:
Long iron drill bit with arrowed head, vice grips, pliers (needle nose and stubby), hacksaw blade wrapped in a rag with tape around it, 2 screwdrivers to help with wedging, normal size and big size, hammer.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=170766

This is what the seat post looks like now

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=170768 http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=170769 http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=170770

Oh yea i promised a picture of the bike so i took one late at night while i was still converting the handlebars back to drop bars and installing proper brake cables (The guy had a mountain bike handlebar with mountain bike levers on it), the chrome on the fork came out nicely with steel wool, i removed the dorky reflectors, who needs them anyways. i think it's going to be a really nice looking bike when i finish with it. (click image)

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=170771

Hey by the way does anybody know what size seat post a U09 at about 59 cm is? on the old seat post there was too much corrosion stuck to it for me to find anything legible enough to be called a number, so if anyone knows that would be great!!

P.S. this is probably one of the most annoying things have ever had to do, trying to saw through that aluminum post and being careful not to damage the frame was well, let's just say going to the dentist would compare. http://www.bikeforums.net/images/misc/pencil.png

Penetrating oil and patience.

Plenty of threads here on unsticking stuck seat posts, so search. PB Blaster is often recommended, and I have also seen some other methods involving ammonia (IIRC).

soak it in PB blast and maybe some light taps with a rubber mallet?

Try methods as suggested above. However, if worse comes to worse, talk to your shop and see if they'll ream out your seat tube with the seat post still in there. They may have you cut the post flush with the top of the seat tube, but wait to see what they say.

Take the BB out, turn the frame upside down, and dump PB blaster down there. Let it sit for a while, it should come out.

I had one seat post that was highly resistant. After using penetrating oil and heating the seat tube, the seat post would not budge. As a last result, I took extreme measures by removing the seat and placing the seat post in a vise (I turned the frame upside down and tightened the post in vise). I used the frame as leverage and wiggled the frame back and forth until the post broke loose from the frame. The method worked very well for me but I would only recommend it as a last resort.

There has been much discussion on this. The problem is the aluminum alloy reacting to steel. PB Blaster is no good for this. Industrial strength ammonia (10%) down the seat tube from the bottom bracket and lots of patience. I had one that took 10 days of soaking. I would tap the tube with a hammer using a hardwood block everyday. Patience is the key. The bond is very strong, and the ammonia will only penetrate a little bit every day. It can take weeks. Seat post in a vise and frame as leverage is the way to go. In my case, I had a seat post with a rail cradle on it, and put a sacrificial seat on, wedged it in a tree trunk and twisted. Move it a millimeter, and you can move it a mile. The other option is to saw it out with a hacksaw blade.

There are varying degrees of stuck.

Sometimes applying the methods above (with a modicum of time and patience) works.
Sometimes, not.

Try the easy stuff first, and be careful with the vise trick - you can bend the frame.
Heat never works because aluminum expands faster than steel.

Even sawing it out can be ineffectual, if the bond between the steel and aluminum is stronger than the parent metal, and reaming is perilous.

The only method I have never tried is drilling a hole in the bottom bracket shell to insert a steel battering ram.

....Don't lose hope too soon though. The majority of stuck posts will come out.

I'm guessing you have a steel seatpost in that UO9, so the aluminum-steel-bonding issues aren't relevant. At any rate, I recently freed a stuck steel post from a steel frame by first dribbling in a mix of 50% automatic transmission fluid and 50% acetone. After a day or so, I flattened the top of the post in a vise and twisted the frame, and it came unstuck fairly easily. That sacrificed the post, unfortunately, but if you wait longer and drip in the lubricant every day for a while, you might be able to twist it out using a saddle clamped as firmly as you can to the post.

Neal

IIRC, a Peugeot UO-9 has a steel seatpost. PB Blaster is the best for stell on steel issues. Before I discovered BPB Blaster, I used a home formula based on 50% Iodine and 50% Mineral oil. It took a few days but worked rather well.

I have removed a couple of posts by flipping the frame over and pouring a can of cola down the seat tube. Let it sit a day or so. They have always come out for me. Be sure you have something to catch the mess under the frame.

You could be correct. I generally stay away from French bikes, so I have no idea if the seat post is steel or alloy. If steel, PB Blaster would be my weapon of choice.

I chose the ATF-acetone mix based on this info:


"The April/May 2007 edition of Machinist's Workshop did a test of penetrating oils where they measured the force required to loosen rusty test devices. Buy the issue if you want to see how they did the test. The results reported were interesting. The lower the number of pounds the better. Mighty interesting results for simple acetone and tranny fluid!

Penetrating oil . Average load .. Price per fluid ounce
None ................. 516 pounds .
WD-40 .............. 238 pounds .. $0.25
PB Blaster ......... 214 pounds .. $0.35
Liquid Wrench ... 127 pounds .. $0.21
Kano Kroil ........ 106 pounds .. $0.75
ATF-Acetone mix.. 53 pounds .. $0.10

The ATF-Acetone mix was a 50/50 mix (1 to 1 ratio)."

Neal

I like data driven decisions. What were the rusted devices? Both steel?

A smaller font may help. :innocent:

Soooo...my spinster aunt was right all the time when she used to yell at us kids for drinking so much Coke and having our stomachs being slowly eaten out by it!:eek:
I'm still wondering if she was correct too when she told us to eat fish cause it's food for the brain...........but Stephen Hawking isn't a friend yet on my facebook account!:D:rolleyes:

Chombi

Considering the amount of Diet Pepsi I drink, I probably do not have a stomach.

One thing to consider - be careful with the post and destructive removal methods. Being French, another post might be hard to come by. :)

I haven't seen mentioned a slide hammer. Should be possible to improvise a hook through a hole drilled in side of the seatpost. For the uninitiated, a slide hammer is common fare for auto body work, among other things requiring impact in a pulling fashion.

THAT is an idea worth trying - you just need to make sure whatever hook you improvise does not easily yield.

BBM's caveat still stands though - French posts are hard to find.

I guess that is so. I found a CLB 26.2 seatpost for my Grand Jubilé to replace the original SR that was too short for me - aero style, very sexy. Wasn't cheap though, had to get it from France.

Hey guys, THANKS FOR ALL THE ADVICE, I finally got the sucker out, i updated it in my FIRST POST, with PICTURES so if you would like to read it, or pass it onto someone else who might need the advice.

I gotta say hacksawing out a seat post really sucks the big one, too time consuming.

anyways gotta find out what size a U09 seat post is, does anyone know?!?!

haha too late, need a new post, i'm deciding what i want to do with the corpse, i want to smash it to oblivion, or maybe throw it into the bottom of the lake where it can't harm anyone again hahaha, because of how agonizingly annoying this whole seat post removal was. But i guess it will be an even bigger reward when i finish the bike right?!

Coke Zero here...cheers!