advice please

[Sully]

Hello, Ive recently gotten into the road cycling thingy, well to cut it short, the better half's seen my passion developing and must av thought I better get involved in this or Ill loose him to miss Wilier, so I fetched my old MTB (Giant Terrango) back from a mates house (18 months ago I got wasted at his house left me car there and used the bike to get there next day ta pick car up, so 18 months out in the garden, and her in doors wants to come for a short ride on the local cycle track, anyway gave the bike a rate good clean and lubed everything problem is I cant het the seat post lowered (tried everthing soaked it in wd40 for 24Hrs used set of stilsons and wont budge it, thought about heating the frame a lil to release the stem? your thoughts and advice is greatly appreciated, Craig

 

[Sully]

ey up mate, dont wall out with me but a[part from the soaking bit Ive tried everything else, cant see how I could soak woth derv unless you mean dripping it round the stem entry point ? rubber mallet was fun tho !

 

[bonj2]

try the following: with the seat post clamp off, try giving the seat tube a whack on either side right at the top where the clamp goes, and possibly a bit further down aswell (but not below where you think the seat tube extends to). make sure the other side is suported by some heavy immovable hard flat object, e.g. paving slab, wall, and put some cloth between it and the bike to prevent it getting scratched.
do this on BOTH sides, opposite each other, to ovalise it. then try.

 

[Sully]

gr8 thought Ben, I see where your coming from I ll gee it a ga, thanks m8

 

[Sully]

Right then gave stem a good battering, and still cant get seat down.....apart from cutting the stem off ?

 

[Sully]

any other idea's please ?

 

[bonk man]

Engineering shop advice.. paraffin will sometimes free things where WD has failed. If that fails [ in this case it probably will, do you have any local black smiths or small engineering shops that could have a go? they might not be sympathetic to the paint but they in my experience can usually shift bits of seized metal,,,, it is part of the job

 

[02GF74]

eeek!!! I had an alloy post snap in a steel frame and trying to get the bit out was a nightmare!! I have to drill hole in the post and lever it out with drifts - not nice.

is your post steel?

as ^^^ say, apply proper penetraing fluid after scraping a gap between the post and frame and leave. then repeat. you could try heat but if you go too hot, you burn off the paint - depends on what you want to achieve.

you could also try to hammer the post down a bit to try to release the grip.

or drill hole in post and use drift or bar of steel to try to turn the post.

ideally you want some sort of drill to drill down inside the post to make the walls thinner hence to loosen its grip in the tube or some way of drilling alon the side of the post so it is split - not sure how you could do that.

I suspect if you do succeed, it will be very hard going.

 

[bonj2]

can't you take the saddle itself off the seat post and see if you can attach a really long pole to the seat post in place of the seat. that will enable you to apply a shed load of torque to rotate the seat post. If you can rotate it, then it will likely come unstuck and you will be able to rotate it back and forth to get it out.

oh and it's not called the 'stem' by the way - the stem is what attaches to the steerer tube of the forks and holds the handlebars.

 

[Sully]

Oh right thsnks for your advice, Ive got me father in law bringing a blow torch home with him from work....not bothered bout paint job, just need ta drop the seat, will let you all know how we go on

 

[Steve Austin]

if it has been thought of.and tried and worked. its here!
http://sheldonbrown.com/stuck-seatposts.html

 

[Steve Austin]

A welding torch to heat aluminium wouldn't be my first choice btw. It could render the frame useless

Read Sheldon first

 

[Sully]

Hi Steve, Ive tried almost everything apart from sawing the post, Im gonna try and get some Ammonia, n try that, may just try a lil bit of heat ...not much just to see what happens

 

[Sully]

Hi Fella's right I ll just let you know where we are with this, Ive tried everything to release it all to no avail, so I cut 2 inch off it but the angled bracket for the seat back in and hey presto, job done, really had no other option, thanks for your advice tho, I very much appreciate it !