# The Ultimate Stuck Seat Post fix.....



## YakimaDeathYaks (Aug 15, 2012)

So ive had some stuck seat post problems, as we all have had. Some are worst than others. I had the worst one i've had ever!!! On a old Kona Fire Mountain, the seatpost was a 26.6 and someone managed to get a 26.8 seatpost in, a pretty nice Suntour XC post. 

I soaked that bad boy for weeks, going out to the garage and messing around with it everynight, tried a camping torch a real torch. I got fed up with it decided to ruin the post, used pipe wrenchs everything i could think of. Went through a whole can of PB Blaster, that usually works after a day of soaking. Read every dedicated forum post on this site, the bmx sites and a ton of other sites. All had the same info. 

Then it hit me................

I decided to drill a hole big enough the get a allen wrench through snuggly through the seat post and used a hammer drill like the one below in the picture. Used a chisel bit put it against the curved part of the allen wrench and not even full pressure or power it came out in about 5 seconds. it was dry as could be as well and could see where the aluminum started to bond with the steel. 

Just thought i'd share that, i had to do it again for a buddy and thought i should put that on here, it could help a guy out.


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## Jak0zilla (May 16, 2010)

Sounds interesting! I'm always interested to hear of any QUICK ways to get stuck seatposts out. 

Do you have any pictures of the drilling you did on this post to get the allen wrench in?

Your way sounds much easier than my "ultimate" fix which is to cut the post off, insert a hacksaw blade on a jab handle and cut slots into the inner part of the seatpost tube and eventually tap the sections loose with a punch. It's painstaking work to avoid scoring the inside of the seat tube and takes a really long time.


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## YakimaDeathYaks (Aug 15, 2012)

I didn't take any pics, i should have. I just drilled a hole in the post itself big enough to get a 5mm allen l wrench in it and hit the button


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## laffeaux (Jan 4, 2004)

It always amazes me that people force a post that's too big into a frame. I guess people don't realize that there is more than one size?

I guess these are the same people that as kids put the round peg into the square hole, and worked at it long enough to make it fit.


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## Fiskare (Sep 5, 2008)

I have a stuck seat post right now on a garage sale road bike. My solution in the past was to remove the post from the inside as mentioned earlier. I like your idea, but I'm not sure I understand it. The allen key is inserted in a whole drilled thru the seat post and perpendicular to it?


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## jimPacNW (Feb 26, 2013)

I like the air tool idea! Last time I had a stuck post I put a bad old seat on there, and swung a 24" += 2x4 upwards and was able to whack it out little by little. I think your method is more efficient, but I did not damage my seatpost.


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## YakimaDeathYaks (Aug 15, 2012)

heres a picture that i made its not to scale but you get the idea


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## girlonbike (Apr 24, 2008)

That is like the best illustration I've seen in awhile. tee hee.

p.s. re Laffeaux- there's like two kinds of peoples: brute force vs. finesse.


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## fishcreek (Apr 10, 2007)

your solution was too late..


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## YakimaDeathYaks (Aug 15, 2012)

that makes me sad



fishcreek said:


> your solution was too late..


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## muddybuddy (Jan 31, 2007)

how was that the solution to a stuck seatpost?


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## fishcreek (Apr 10, 2007)

seatpost was out, and as a bonus you have a soft tail frame.


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## Uncle Grumpy (Oct 20, 2005)

Cut a bit more out of the Humu and you'll get a shock to fit. 

Grumps


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## longfinkillie (Jan 28, 2011)

I actually ran a check to see if the pic was PS'd or not. It's legit.


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## Fiskare (Sep 5, 2008)

YakimaDeathYaks said:


> heres a picture that i made its not to scale but you get the idea


Thanks!


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## BigwheelsRbest (Jun 12, 2007)

YakimaDeathYaks said:


> heres a picture that i made its not to scale but you get the idea


Yakima - your pics seem to have vanished. You couldn't upload them again could you please? - your solution sounds like my last resort...

Thanks in advance


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## YakimaDeathYaks (Aug 15, 2012)

Ok but it ruins the the post but works good soak it in some PB Blaster for a bit though and it works nice, don't give up it will come out


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## s4gobabygo (Sep 1, 2008)

i've used an impact gun/air hammer more times than i'd like to admit on seized stuff like that. it hasn't resulted in calamity yet (knocking furiously on my desk). last month a friend hit the seized bottom bracket exacta box! crank arm thread stripped, so puller wouldn't work, and riding it around with no crank bolts didn't do a thing. took the crank off the spindle with my air hammer, then found the bottom bracket to be seized in the shell... took that out with the impact gun. the whole process took over a month (after all the soaking and smarter ideas failed), but the actual time on the air tools, between both jobs must have been under a minute. if you support the area you're working on very well, the frame should be fine.

and fish creek: that picture makes me so freaking mad!


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## BigwheelsRbest (Jun 12, 2007)

YakimaDeathYaks said:


> Ok but it ruins the the post but works good soak it in some PB Blaster for a bit though and it works nice, don't give up it will come out


How did you hold the frame solid whilst you used the hammer?


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## wv_bob (Sep 12, 2005)

BigwheelsRbest said:


> How did you hold the frame solid whilst you used the hammer?


An air hammer doesn't have that much kick to where anything is hard to hold. It's more about how it hits it 10 bazillion times a second than it is how hard it hits.


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## s4gobabygo (Sep 1, 2008)

yep. it gets the job done through repetition, not brute force, so in general terms, it's no more dangerous than tapping with a normal hammer with an equivalent force. that said, it not only accelerates positive outcomes, but negative ones too. if you do something stupid with an air hammer, you'll arrive at the result of your "something stupid" much sooner. so still be very thoughtful about how you support the frame, and be conscious about how you can isolate the force to where you want it. for example, when i was using the air hammer to remove the crank arm from the bb spindle, i supported the bike from the bottom bracket itself, not any part of the frame. this way if anything were to fail, it would be the bottom bracket, not the bb shell or any other part of the frame.


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## YakimaDeathYaks (Aug 15, 2012)

BigwheelsRbest said:


> How did you hold the frame solid whilst you used the hammer?


just held it up on the ground, like the other guys said it doesn't move the frame around at all


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## s4gobabygo (Sep 1, 2008)

the ideal method to support the frame would be to have it resting on a loose seat collar, upside-down. this way each "blow" of the hammer would only apply a compressive force to the top of the seat tube itself, which is internally supported by the seat post. no other tubes or welds on the bike would experience any force. avoid supporting the frame by other areas, because the energy of each blow is transferred to every tube and every weld between the hammer and where you have the frame supported. in cases where you have no choice but to support the frame by adjacent tubes (like when using the impact gun to free a bb that's seized in a shell), create the greatest area of support possible to reduce stress risers.


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## BigwheelsRbest (Jun 12, 2007)

Thanks for all the advice - especially on using the seat collar which I will anchor into my workbench, and then support the frame in a bike stand - hope it works.

just splashed out on an air hammer... Should arrive early next week.


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## s4gobabygo (Sep 1, 2008)

good luck!


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## BigwheelsRbest (Jun 12, 2007)

YakimaDeathYaks said:


> Ok but it ruins the the post but works good soak it in some PB Blaster for a bit though and it works nice, don't give up it will come out


You are a genius Yakima - tonight I am celebrating with beers as my seatpost is out!! Your air hammer did the job - after soaking in Plus Gas day after day, and using the air hammer over a few days - little by little it came loose.

Thanks - and repped


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## BigwheelsRbest (Jun 12, 2007)

*Niner SIR9 in Rootbeer*

This is the beautiful frame you helped me save.

Very grateful.

(although it does need a new seatpost now - carbon this time - f#ck aluminium... never again) :lol:


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## YakimaDeathYaks (Aug 15, 2012)

Nice loooking bike i'm glad you were able to save it.


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## BigwheelsRbest (Jun 12, 2007)

Just to add to Yakima's diagram of what to do - here's my crude sketch - remember, this is after soaking in Plus Gas for a few days...


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## TwigJumper (Mar 14, 2012)

Jak0zilla said:


> Sounds interesting! I'm always interested to hear of any QUICK ways to get stuck seatposts out.
> 
> Do you have any pictures of the drilling you did on this post to get the allen wrench in?
> 
> Your way sounds much easier than my "ultimate" fix which is to cut the post off, insert a hacksaw blade on a jab handle and cut slots into the inner part of the seatpost tube and eventually tap the sections loose with a punch. It's painstaking work to avoid scoring the inside of the seat tube and takes a really long time.


Oh, lawd. I did this when the seat post bonded with the seat tube. I spent the whole evening getting it out.


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