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As it says in the title really. I've got a steel frame and I seem to have gotten the dropper well and truly stuck in the frame.
Can anyone help with suggestions for attempting to remove it?
Am I right in assuming the moveable part of the post will just came away from the static part of the post if I do the clamping seat in the vice and using the frame as leverage to twist? I guess I need to clamp the static part of the frame?
You need to be cautious with everything. Based on getting mast extension out of carbon windsurfer masts I would put a hammer hitch around the static part of the dropper. Get it really tight and then tape it firmly in place, maybe even a drop or s two of superglue but make sure not to get any down the seat tube! Masking tape is your friend here. Then then a strong bar to the rope and start to wind round and round tightening the hitch and then keep applying torque. It should loosen. Eventually. No need to clamp the frame, it’s big enough to get a grip between your legs.
Mate had this on a Blue Pig. I told him about the seat post guy online. He went with an angle grinder instead.
I'd soak the thing in |Plus Gas or similar for a couple of days, use plasticene funnel and keep topping up. With luck you won't need to resort to force.
I'd try the basics first, heat gun on the seattube to try and expand it a little, being careful not to use too much heat, then try and remove it, use a penetrating oil/lube and spray around the seatpost and keep trying for a little while.
What is a hammer hitch exactly?
Heat won't work as aluminium expands much faster than steel. Would try to cool the post but I don't really know how to get a cooling element 'into' the post since it is a dropper.
It’s a knot I’ve seemingly been using the wrong name for according to this website. It’s a girth hitch with a simple knot in the short end to stop it pulling through.
https://loadoutroom.com/39723/6-survival-knots-know-tie/
Amazing how the Americans can ‘weaponise’ everything, even knots.
All it is is finding a way to fasten a thin rope to a spat and stop it turning. Basically you are trying to improvise a non destructive version of an oil filter removal wrench or something for opening trick jars.
Heat won’t work as aluminium expands much faster than steel.
The heat has to be conducted through the seat tube before it reaches the post. The seat tube may expand enough to break the bond. I would just try pouring boiling water over it first while turning the seatpost.
Ultimately, which is more valuable - the seatpost or the frame? You may need to cut one to salvage the other.
Caustic soda is what you need
Its been used extensively in the retro bmx world to remove stuck alloy seatposts from steel frames
Plenty of info on google on how to do it, even Sheldon Brown has a list of ways to remove stuck a seatpost and that includes using caustic soda
It melts the alloy seatpost but leaves the steel frame intact so be careful of any other alloy parts
As your post is a dropper this would be an expensive fix and make sure you release all pressure from the post before beginning
Another option is a pipe wrench, this will damage the static part of the post though
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/stuck-seatposts.html
If the dropper isn't fully slammed into the frame...
Loosen off the seat post clamp all the way then just take the bike out on a nice bumpy ride and with a bit of luck your body weight bouncing up and down on the post might well loosen it.
Seat post man.
Just been watching a load of vids on this on the uchube. A lot of the 'trad' techniques didn't really work, I was surprised to see. The slide hammer was one I had never seen, pretty effective with a bit of pentrating lube though possibly hard to rig with a dropper, especially if you dont want to damaged it.
As was the reciprocating saw with wood blade, something i hadn't even considered.
Freeze the post with dry ice or liquid nitrogen.
IMO you'll not get it out.
Had similar/same, blindly tried loads of house wife suggestions;
Plus Gas
Coke
Vinegar
Heat
It's absolutely welded tight. it aint shifting.
I have caustic soda ready, just plucking up the courage.
With respect you did not try the smart method.
Freeze it, shrink the post, break the aluminium oxide bond, remove. No damage to post or frame. The hard part is getting dry ice but with the effort.
Don't take my word for it, check it out yourself.
Am I right in assuming the moveable part of the post will just came away from the static part of the post if I do the clamping seat in the vice and using the frame as leverage to twist? I guess I need to clamp the static part of the frame?
Yes, if its seized rather than just stuck.
I pull them out by the external tube that is seized in the frame (custom split clamps)