Seized bits…advice, suggestions, experience sought….

Hi all,

Couple of days ago I was gifted a “I forgot it was hiding at the back of the shed” single speed flip flop thingymabob

Deciding that it’d make a good city commuter / fly around the block / pop to the shops bike once cleaned up I took it

All parts are in decent enough nick with the exception on one seized pedal (getting close to drilling this out) a seized seat post and a not quite seized fork

I’ve been spraying every hour or so the last couple of days with penetration oil and hoping for the best

So far, seat post or pedal not moving so will persevere further

The fork is where the search for advice lies…

The headset spacers had seized onto the steerer and after not budging decided to cut them off with the dremel

The steerer is caked in rust, it turns but will not come out, I’ve been spraying liberally with penetration fluid with the hope something might shift but so far nothing…am I missing something or should this have just dropped out by now?!

Measuring with a calliper the non rusty section is 28.5mm and the rusty bit is 28.8mm Could the tolerances be so tight that 0.3mm would cause the fork to stay put?

Anyone had this and got around it?! If so how?!

Any further advice or suggestions massively welcomed

https://www.plusgas.co.uk/en-gb

I’d use that and then go to town with a rubber mallet on the steerer tube.

Have you removed the taper wedge ring that goes under the spacers and holds it all together?

Might be useful

https://www.sheldonbrown.com/stuck-seatposts.html

Block of wood and a lump hammer for the fork and headset. A few really hard hits will free that up. Do you know anybody who has a Park Tools PW-4 pedal spanner? Night and day difference over the normal spanners. If it’s an aluminium crank arm you’ll probably strip the treads anyway if it’s that stuck. You won’t be able to drill it out without specialist (expensive) drill bits because it’s hardened steal.

If it’s a steel frame and an aluminium seatpost. I’ve just used the caustic soda method on a seized seatpost. An idea I stole from the above Sheldon Brown website link. I can recommend it. It works very well. The only downside is it does spit, hiss and bubble when it’s doing its work. That makes it very hard to protect the paintwork. I couldn’t plug the seatpost with a bung due to it being deformed and split slightly. So I used Plumbers Gold to seal it. Which worked very well.

Well this is fortuitous. I have a similar issue.

Gifted a road bike made from Carbon stuff.

The steerer is carbon, and it seems like it’s chemically bonded itself to the bearings. It was my Dad’s bike and his idea of maintenance was cleaning the bits he could see, oiling the chain, and waiting for things to wear out completely (I strongly believe that this headset bearing arrangement has never been looked at since the bike was bought).

Anyway to free the steerer from the bearings without destroying the Steerer? I suspect may have to sacrifice the forks to get this problem solved.

@klunky I’ve read of people using that, is it really as good as that?!

@tjagain excuse my ignorance here but the what now?! Sounds promising for sure as there’s no up / down movement at all, but I don’t really know what you mean or where to find it?! What’s in the picture is what I have unless what you speak of is missing or hiding?!

@t3ap0t I’d seen that link but thanks for sharing, figured I’d start of small (penetrating oil) and work my way up to other things if that doesn’t work (hasn’t yet)

@trifoster Thankyou for the pointers / suggestions, truth is, I’m not sure what each are, the way it’s marking I’m almost certain the post is aluminium but the frame, I’m not sure, but I’ll have a google for the “caustic soda method” as I’ve not heard of it before

if anyone knows any different the bike itself is one of the nologo single speed jobbies

I think what TJ is on about is the very top bitnof the top part of the headset, that black ring thing, is supposed to come out. Try pricing that upwards with an old knife or something, see if that loosens things. Once that’s out/loose, big hammer and go for it!

Donslo

The bit called tbe compression ring in this diagramme. Should have a split in it. See if you can pick it out with something

http://content.bikeroar.com/system/content/000/086/492/original/threadless_aheadset_bicycle_headset_exploded.jpg?1386252826

For the pedal. Heat it up Get a spanner on it and load it up then **** the end of the crank arm with a hammer. The idea is to make it ring like a bell. The shockwave breaks the corrosion. Might well need 3 hands

Is the seat post the wrong height?
If so clamp it in ‘the big vice’ and turn the frame, then buy a new seat post.
Pedal- check you are going the right way, then use a three foot pole.
Forks yeah get the wedge thing out then **** it.

@andrewh @tjagain cheers guys, at work tonight but will have a double check / pick with something…picky in the ‘morrow

Haven’t got a big, solid vice for the seat post to be able to do that unfortunately but wondering if the LBS might have a crack for some beer money…

The pedal?! Still spraying, still having a go but want to see if I can get the seat post and fork sorted before kicking ten bells of **** out of it but at the end of the day, it’s a pedal, it’s not supposed to come out so to speak so wouldn’t hurt to leave it be for now at least

Thanks for all the advice so far, now considering sacking off work just so can go home and try again ha ha

Looking at the exploded image that @tjagain shared makes sense but how to get to the compression ring?

This is what I have compared as best I can to the exploded view shared earlier

How to remove the “seal” without damaging it?! Seems pretty tight but wondering now if I remove the “plastic or rubber” bit, it might allow for enough movement to slide up so as to allow compression ring access

Purely guessing now until I have another look armed with new advice at hand

I am not certain but the plastic or rubber bit could be the bit i mean. Sometimes the order of bits is different but i am at the limits of my knowledge

I have seen cheap headsets with plastic compression rings

Only one way to find out…right?!

Forks are out…need a lie down after all that exertion…Just a seatpost and pedal left…

The “rubber or plastic” bit was just a rubber ring that was well past it’s sell by date, a few lumps with a hammer and out she popped, going to have to cut the top of the steerer down a tad as it doesn’t sit well with being hit so it seems

Oddly, there was no bearing in the top cup, I’m assuming there should have been?!

Next question, what’s the best method to clean up the steerer so it looks (almost) new again?!

For the pedal. Heat it up

Don’t heat the pedal – heat the crank arm around the pedal but keep the pedal as cool as possible.

The theory is that the heat causes the object to expand. You want the crank arm to expand. The hole/thread that the pedal is in will get larger and that will break the grip in the joint and allow you to unscrew the pedal.

Well this is embarrassing …

pedal is now out…always helpful when you turn it the RIGHT way as opposed to spending 2 days tightening it…

Next up…seat post…

If you hit the top of the steerer does the headset become loose? If so you’re 1/2 way there. After that just put the fork leg on the ground and tap the top cap of the headset down to free the wedge – if it is seized and it’s alloy, there’s no way it’s coming out without doing this.

If after hitting the steerer the headset doesn’t become loose, you’re in a world of pain with some heavy equipment.

being as it’s a free bike it might be worth the investment to get and expert to look at it. And by that I don’t necessarily mean the LBS, they may or may not have direct experience – depends on what they’ve been working on. In this case the more BSOs the better, counter intuitively.

Next up…seat post…

If you have a blow torch, try gently heating the seat tube. If you’re careful, you can avoid damaging the paint and it should expand enough to break the seal. If you can get it to turn, you should be able to work some penetrating oil in and then it should come out easily.

@speeder thanks for advice, muchly appreciated, for is out now, headset all cleaned up and re-greased with new bearings and working a treat, just have to work out best way to clean the steerer

@thols that’s my next plan…hit it with fire…at this point, although I’d like to preserve the paint, if I can get this thing working as it should again there’s a powder coaters near me that’ll do a frame and fork for £60, it’ll help with the few surface rust spots that are dotted all over as well

Next question, what’s the best method to clean up the steerer so it looks (almost) new again?!

Emery Cloth would be proper way of doing it. It’s like a long strip of hard wearing wet and dry sandpaper that’s fabric rather than paper backed. You’re just looking to remove the corrosion and polish the surface. Most effective way is to loop a long strip round the back of the steerer and sort of ‘saw’ away at it, rotating the steerer half round once the back is clean.

@tthew many thanks for the suggestion, just out of interest (and current lack of emery cloth) is wire wool a bad idea?

And she’s out!!! Only took three days…

If it’s worth any help to anyone else, three days of hourly soaking with penetrating oil, trying to twist etc and then borrowing from advice on here, I approached it slightly differently, have just spent the last hour or so heating up the seatpost only and then cooling down rapidly with the hose, heating, cooling quickly and so on, another quick pop with the stilsons and it moved a few twists and grunts (and possible a hernia) later, and voila

Now…if anyone has a spare seatpost they want to sell…I’m in the market for one…

I’ve found rust dissolver great for this sort of thing btw

Never heard of that, well worth bearing in mind next time though