stuck seat post removal

I have a seat post stuck in a frame. Alloy post in a steel frame, I know about bi metallic corrosion and maintenance etc, just missed this issue and now its stuck.

I’ve tried and LBS have tried, soaked in WD40 and Coke etc big vice but now need one of those jig things to pull it out to save the frame and sell it. Does anyone know of someone who can do this in Scotland pref near Fife, there was a guy in Stirling who did but i think he’s shut down??

cheers

Fire! Fire is the answer here…

similar situation a while ago, spent 3 days pouring and spraying all manner of concoctions whilst utilising all manner of long handled toolage

in the end I managed to get it out by heating up the seat post and then cooling it very quickly with a hose in the hope the expansion / rapid contraction might break any type of seal holding it in there, did this three or four times using a pair of stilsons in between each time to see if I could get any movement, 4th time it moved and with a bit of brute force came out with the frame unscathed, seatpost was knackered

this does however depend on how much post is sticking out of the frame

John Richards

+44 7491 963903

George Street in perth

In a similar predicament many years ago I ended up dissolving mine using Caustic Soda.

Very dangerous chemicals. Extremely hot (volcanic) reaction. I was desperate as I was heading to Majorca 2 days after and didn’t have time to send the frame off. I don’t recommend using any cutting / twisting methods if lubes etc don’t work.

https://theseatpostman.com/ pops up on my social media regularly. I know a few people who have used him.

If you can get the search bar to work (beats me) there was a recent thread on stuck seat posts.

I used caustic soda. It’s incredibly easy and cheap if you’re not in a rush. I wouldn’t even bother starting another method in a steel frame.

Send it to the seatpost man

there was a guy in Stirling who did but i think he’s shut down??

Yeah, Stirling Bike Doctor sold up but his big tool (fnar) was acquired by Iain McKenna that runs The Bike Works, also in Stirling (in Springkerse).

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He’s currently in the Alps but think he’s back home this weekend.

thanks @a11y and @bikerevivesheffield both perfect recommendations and that massive tool is whats required!

cheers

What’s worked for me in this situation is loosening the clamp and riding it. After a few hundred km it loosened off and frame and seatpost are still in use.

If you want to try it yourself and aren’t in a rush then I managed it recently on a bike where a good 20cm of post was stuck in the frame and no amount of brute force or release oils were working.  My techique was:

Buy new hacksaw blades from a good manufacturer (Bahco) with the lowest tpi I could get (18).  The idea being that normally you use high tpi for steel and low for aluminium so I thought that lower made it less likely to cut into the steel.  This technique isn’t going to work if your seatpost is in longer than the length of a hacksaw blade so check first.

Cut off the top of the seat post about 4cm above the frame.  Enough to grip with huge pipe wrench but as little as possible so I could get as much hacksaw blade in as possible

Find a piece of dowel that would just fit into the seatpost with a few mm to spare

Cut a groove into the dowel with a multi tool, the length of the blade and deep enough to only leave enough blade exposed to cut through the thickness of the post plus a teeny bit

Jam the blade into the dowel but with the teeth set to cut on the pull stroke so you are starting cutting at the end of the post rather then the top.  Just to try and reduce the damage to the frame

Then just stick the down in the seatpost and gently try and saw it out.  I did two cuts about 90deg apart with the idea being that I should just be able to peel out that piece and the rest would come out with a pipe wrench

In the end the piece didn’t come out but I was able to bend it in enough that the pipe wrench could squeeze the rest and the twisting it from side to side while spraying more release oil in freed it a little more each time.  Eventually it came out with only a slight score where the blade had been.  Didn’t look more that a scratch really, I was very pleased

The main things were brand new blades that cut with almost no pressure, the stuff the blade cut out looked like wire wool, it was beatiful

The other thing was not trying to do it all in one day.  Whenever I got tired and wanted to rush it I just put it away for the day and came back.  Took about a week of sawing carefully to get through.

+1 for Ian at the bikeworks. Andy was rightly internet famous for his seatpost removal machine. Ian is his successor and a darned good mechanic.

Yeah the removers don’t necessarily destroy the post either.

I’ll give ian a call thanks!

@leffeboy blimey that’s impressive, not sure I could be bothered doing that but FairPlay ingeniousl! Bare feet too, :))

thanks all

Bare feet too

Top paying attention there

I probably would have put it into a shop if i’d had a good recommendation but the only person I know here who did that had his frame damaged.  I really like this frame so was happy to put in the time needed.  That extraction tool looks like exactly what is needed though