So my 1993 WL has a seized seatpost since circa 1999. Tried a bunch of tricks to get it out with no luck...worried about cutting it out and ruining the paint in the process, as its a Leslie Purple color. Got a quote for over $1000 to remove and restore to O.G., yikes. Are frames worth anything with a stuck seatpost? (the bike fits my size, but as I get older I would like adjustment options, this wont be "hung on my wall".
1993 WL seatpost issue
- Thread starter TheWheel
- Start date
Stingercut
Active member
Cut the post off 1cm or so above the seat clamp area ( its not likely to be salvageable and the frame is the valuable bit ). Then either use a long file with a serrated edge to cut two adjacent slots into the alu piece stuck inside the seat tube or a hacksaw blade embedded in a thin piece of wood ( grooved ) to take the hack saw blade. Used both techniques successfully a few times. Be careful not to cut into the seat tube as its thin walled. Steady hands, 30mins of patient sawing away will do it.Then twist out the pieces with a wrench or pliers taking care not to leverage against the frame tubing and damaging it. Once the tubing has been cut through on at least two adjacent sides, it all comes out nicely. WD40 penetrating oil will help the process. Last pic is of a custom saw tool i made for this.
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That will take some courage on my part...
Stingercut
Active member
Its a beautiful bike. Love the colour. You could cut and probably save enough of the Syncros 26.4mm seatpost to sell it on for a road bike.
Stingercut
Active member
You need ~ 1cm sticking above the seat tube when you cut it up to grab hold of to twist it free, either using a wrench or pliers. In my case the alu post had galled to the Ti seat tube but it just makes it less likely you will ‘leverage’ against the seat tube itself potentially damaging it 
Better sex through chemistry. Flip the frame upside down, pull the BB and get a hose down the seatttube opening inside the BB shell (when there isn’t a vent hole, make one with a small grinder end on a dremel), then feed either penetrating oil down the inside walls of the seat tube and let it sit for a few days, or just pour an HCL solution (like Works toilet cleaner) down inside to dissolve the aluminum out of the steel.
If you do the former, give it a few days to a week to work its way through the 20 years of corrosion buildup.
If you do the latter, grab a few plastic containers, wide but a couple inches deep, and find one the HCL doesn’t dissolve. I’m not sure how your Fats paint was formulated so test a spot under the bb as well. Of the handful of frames I’ve had to do this on, one had paint that dissolved on contact with HCL, the rest did not.
Cut the seatpost down to a couple inches past the frame, and flip the frame upside down, setting it on that cut post end flat on the bottom of the plastic container to temporarily cap it off.
Pour the HCL in through that bb shell vent hole and as the black smoke billowing out dies down, lift the frame up to dump the spent mixture into the plastic bowl below and keep pouring in fresh HCL from the top until what little is left of the aluminum also falls out.
Wear a good mask/respirator and do it on a windy day that carries the noxious cloud across you to the side, avoiding creating a wake in front of you and getting a mouthful of the stuff.
Alternatively, I guess you could combine approaches, by just sawing off the post, standing the frame up so the post is pitched just slightly downhill back toward you, sticking a little hose inside the open end of the post and applying a small stream of HCL directly into the aluminum, to create the slot & open up a gap without risking the inside of your seat tube to files & saws. Once that slot is opened up in the aluminum, you can usually pipe wrench/cheater bar on it and it’ll deform enough to peel away from the inside of your seat tube.
It’s the second worst kind of repair to have to do but it’s kind of fun watching your terrible problem just boil away off to your annoying neighbors house. At least it’s not a seized threaded steel BB cup inside a steel frame. But it’s certainly not a thousand dollar job.
If you do the former, give it a few days to a week to work its way through the 20 years of corrosion buildup.
If you do the latter, grab a few plastic containers, wide but a couple inches deep, and find one the HCL doesn’t dissolve. I’m not sure how your Fats paint was formulated so test a spot under the bb as well. Of the handful of frames I’ve had to do this on, one had paint that dissolved on contact with HCL, the rest did not.
Cut the seatpost down to a couple inches past the frame, and flip the frame upside down, setting it on that cut post end flat on the bottom of the plastic container to temporarily cap it off.
Pour the HCL in through that bb shell vent hole and as the black smoke billowing out dies down, lift the frame up to dump the spent mixture into the plastic bowl below and keep pouring in fresh HCL from the top until what little is left of the aluminum also falls out.
Wear a good mask/respirator and do it on a windy day that carries the noxious cloud across you to the side, avoiding creating a wake in front of you and getting a mouthful of the stuff.
Alternatively, I guess you could combine approaches, by just sawing off the post, standing the frame up so the post is pitched just slightly downhill back toward you, sticking a little hose inside the open end of the post and applying a small stream of HCL directly into the aluminum, to create the slot & open up a gap without risking the inside of your seat tube to files & saws. Once that slot is opened up in the aluminum, you can usually pipe wrench/cheater bar on it and it’ll deform enough to peel away from the inside of your seat tube.
It’s the second worst kind of repair to have to do but it’s kind of fun watching your terrible problem just boil away off to your annoying neighbors house. At least it’s not a seized threaded steel BB cup inside a steel frame. But it’s certainly not a thousand dollar job.
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