I removed a stuck post...

[charliedid]

This is a good one if you are on Instagram or not

[warren128]

Originally Posted by charliedid

This is a good one if you are on Instagram or not

That's a good one.

My friend, DWF, needs to rent a forklift. LOL

[OtayBW]

Originally Posted by dddd

That's an easy fix using a Sawzall with a long and narrow enough blade to slot it along it's entire length just up to the level of the bottom of the slot in the seat tube.
Don't align/clock your cut with the slot in the seat tube, you don't want the blade to contact the edge there OR at the top of the seat tube.
Any contact with the edges would allow the blade to concentrate force enough to start cutting the frame material, but the blade will never begin cutting into the smooth inside of the seat tube, it gets no bite at all.
I've had to sharpen the blade teeth near the tip of the blade to even get good bite in the alloy post, so it just cant dig into the titanium or steel at all.

Take into account the travel of the reciprocating blade, to prevent the tip of the blade from getting caught on the end of the seat tube and causing damage.
The teeth are directional, so the blade tries to eject itself from the seat tube with some force when/if the teeth are getting bite into the soft metal of the post.
You might have to slenderize the blade on a bench grinder to accomodate the ID of the post(?) (I've done that once).

Use a sharpened spoke with a sharp bend near it's tip to firstly probe for the end of the post to know the cutting depth needed, and then use the spoke to probe the slot that you are cutting in the post to verify when the slot is down to bare titanium for the entire length of the seatpost below the bottom of the clamping slot in the seat tube. A sharp spoke will get some bite in aluminum but will just glide along the titanium just like the saw blade teeth.


Leave a 1" stub protruding after cutting off the seatpost, this you can grip with faucet pliers to twist out the fully-slotted seatpost using penetrant and some back-and-forth twisting. You might want to reinforce a thin post with a dowel insert so the pliers won't crush it.
The post won't break free unless the cut is completely through to the seat tube the full length of the slot. The slot needs to be cut thoroughly in order for the compressive grip of the corrosion to be relieved, but again it doesn't need to extend above the height of the lower end of slot in the seat tube.

The post below was very badly stuck, I had worked at it over long period of time before using the saw.
It had resisted dry ice with big wrench torque using penetrant.
Too much torque applied to a seatpost could deform the stay eyes at their attachment points, maybe crack something.

I once had to pull out an oversized steel post (last photos) that some clown had pounded in probably 60 years ago, and it was extremely difficult because I could not use the saw to cut out the steel post!

You need a mule! HAR!

[bikinchris]

Originally Posted by pinkshogun

I used PB Blaster and kept the frame in the shed as PB smells bad. Kroil is the best but harder to obtain and more expensive

Actually, a 50/50 mixture of acetone and automatic transmission fluid has been tested to work much better by nany different people. BUT the aluminum seatpost and steel frame means that no rust penetrant will work very well.

I once had a tandem bike that was given to me with a rear rim that split due to the brake track wearing through and two stuck seatposts. One seatpost was almost 8 inches stuck and the other was more than a foot deep into the frame. I wound up using sodium hydroxide and dissolving the seatposts until they were paper thin and peeled them out.

[bikinchris]

Originally Posted by charliedid

This is a good one if you are on Instagram or not

That wasn't stuck very hard IMO. Clamp the seatpost in a vice and twist the frame and it would have come right out.

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by bikinchris

That wasn't stuck very hard IMO. Clamp the seatpost in a vice and twist the frame and it would have come right out.

You're fun.

[dddd]

Originally Posted by bikinchris

That wasn't stuck very hard IMO. Clamp the seatpost in a vice and twist the frame and it would have come right out.

A+ for making use of available assets, but you're right, it clearly wasn't anywhere near as tight as my steel or aluminum posts.

In the pictures I posted, the tension in the ropes would have been dangerously high to be turning that long ratchet handle spool setup. So I incrementally tightened it and then stepped on the seatpost to force the tension much higher against a near-zero bracing angle.
But even after tensioning as high as I dared, It took minutes of pounding against the steel seat tube with a 2# hammer against the small, hard block of Trex decking shown, in order for the post to even begin creeping out of the seat tube. The pounding/ringing noise was so bad that I could hear my rural good neighbors' windows slamming shut (I used the whiskey only to assuage my sense of guilt over disturbing their tranquility).

Oh yeah though, my patience with that stuck post had run out.

So for fire remediation as well as restoring my civilized reputation, I mowed everyone's huge backside "lawn" for free the following weekend, a 4-properties-long common easement (looks like a driving range, on top of an underground canal pipe, sitting above a ravine that was the site of California's first gold discovery) that is a sort of runway for hunting/feeding raptors. My collection of discarded/refurbished mowers is becoming like my bike collection, lol, as I would never think of (ab)using a new mower on such rocky terrain.

[5oakterrace]

Originally Posted by DWF

I have s similar stuck seatpost, aluminum in a Ti frame, for the last 9 months. I’m curious what you soaked it in over the winter to help loosen the post.

I had that problem. Read that titanium and alum. heat up differently. Took it to kitchen and held it over the stove flame. That loosened it enough for me to get it out. I learned about all that via Sheldon Brown's website. Great resource

[dddd]

Originally Posted by 5oakterrace

I had that problem. Read that titanium and alum. heat up differently. Took it to kitchen and held it over the stove flame. That loosened it enough for me to get it out. I learned about all that via Sheldon Brown's website. Great resource

The titanium and it's non-painted finish should be able to handle a LOT more heat than other frames.
But the aluminum expands more than titanium, so there is perhaps some possibility of bursting the seat tube (mainly because the post is already in real compression from the corrosion layer forming between the two metals.

The heat does also expand the seatpost lengthwise however, which at least breaks free some of the actual static bonding to either side of the center of the "frozen length" of the post. I've used this approach to good effect on stuck quill-type stems, which were much easier to twist out once the whole thing cooled down with the penetrant getting drawn in after it cooled to the point where the liquid wouldn't just go up in smoke.

So for cyclic heating at perhaps moderate 250F or so temperature, I think that it is worth at least considering.
But at this point, I fear not the Sawzall, it has proven itself, it's quick, and I've never damaged a frame using it.

[DWF]

Originally Posted by warren128

That's a good one.

My friend, DWF, needs to rent a forklift. LOL

It DOES look like it worked for him! I’ll keep this option in mind if the other suggestions don’t work out. Maybe I can borrow a forklift from the boys at Home Depot when they’re on their break.

[DWF]

Originally Posted by dddd

The titanium and it's non-painted finish should be able to handle a LOT more heat than other frames.
But the aluminum expands more than titanium, so there is perhaps some possibility of bursting the seat tube (mainly because the post is already in real compression from the corrosion layer forming between the two metals.

The heat does also expand the seatpost lengthwise however, which at least breaks free some of the actual static bonding to either side of the center of the "frozen length" of the post. I've used this approach to good effect on stuck quill-type stems, which were much easier to twist out once the whole thing cooled down with the penetrant getting drawn in after it cooled to the point where the liquid wouldn't just go up in smoke.

So for cyclic heating at perhaps moderate 250F or so temperature, I think that it is worth at least considering.
But at this point, I fear not the Sawzall, it has proven itself, it's quick, and I've never damaged a frame using it.

Thanks 5oakterrace and dddd for explaining how this works. I’ll certainly give the heat treatment a try first. I think I have a paint stripping gun somewhere in the garage; hopefully that can get hot enough. There’s a “no bikes in the kitchen” rule at my place so I won’t be trying the stovetop method.

If it’s still stuck, I might need to go up to Gold Country and visit dddd there. I do have a Sawzall, but certainly do not have the skill to be that careful with the cut!

[bikinchris]

Originally Posted by charliedid

You're fun.

Always perform the least invasive thing first.

[rePhil]

This YBM guy seems to enjoy the challenge:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYlxHXh4LJY