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Hey folks,
After a long illness I'm finally getting back onto my lovely Orange Four. When able, I've mostly ridden a Spesh Levo e-bike this last year as I've recovered, so the Four has sat in my garage, untouched for at least 18 months.
I started to strip it down last night to find the source of a creak only to discover that the Reverb dropper post is firmly seized in the frame.
I've loosened off the seat-clamp, flooded the area with WD-40, and plan to take it for a spin tonight with the unclamped post suffering the forces of my +100kg lardy arse upon it. Anything else? I'd rather avoid damaging the frame or the dropper if possible.
If you're in Central Scotland, take it to Andy at Stirling Bike Doctor. He will get it out for you.
I had a similar issue, tried every kind of lubricant, scoured the internet... I used an old 31.8 stem, probably a hundred mm length, attached it to the exposed section of the dropper and tapped the stem with a mallet. Obviously this won't work if there is no post exposed.
Go see The SeatpostMan, he'll sort it.
Likely won't be able to save the dropper though.
Came here to say exactly the same as the first reply.
Rubber or strap type oil filter wrench and a big bar is probably your best bet if you don't want to kill the seatpost. Wrapping an inner tube around it then trying a big pair of stilsons might just work, too.
The bottom of the post is in the frame to its full extent, so I've nothing to get a grip of. I do have a muckle great 30mm spanner that fits the nut on the top of the post. Is it possible to overtighten this nut and damage the innards, or can I use it for a bit of leverage?
The bottom of the post is in the frame to its full extent, so I’ve nothing to get a grip of. I do have a muckle great 30mm spanner that fits the nut on the top of the post. Is it possible to overtighten this nut and damage the innards, or can I use it for a bit of leverage?
I wouldn't go swinging off the top cap. It's only engaged on a fine thread that's designed to retain the cap. I can't make any sensible suggestions for removal other than what's already bee discussed above.
Good luck.
You could try removing the top cap then a strap wrench on the exposed threads.
A top tip that is too late you but may save others is every time one of these threads pops up, go out to the shed, pull out your seatpost and give it a wipe and a smear of grease. Do the same for you wheels when a stuck maxle thread pops up.
A friend of mine used lemon juice. Removed the bb and put loads of different things down that he read on the Internet like lemon juice, vinegar and oils etc. Kept hitting it with a rubber mallet for a few days then left it hanging by the seat post. After that it came straight out. No idea if this was the magic ingredients or if he got lucky.
With stuck seat posts, the old trick used to be turn bike upside down and get cola down the seat tube from the BB, leave it for ~24 hours. Turn bike over to let coke drain out, tap post/saddle with mallet, sorted.
Did it myself with my Peugeot 531 road bike in late 90s, worked a treat.
But no idea if you could do this with dropper without corrosion damage or other issues.
Had a similar situation at the weekend, dropper seized in carbon frame.
Generous squirting of wd40, attached a sacrificial saddle, lowered it then using a block of wood and a hammer, bashed the nose of the saddle horizontally until the post started to rotate in the seat tube. More wd40, then more bashing in both directions. That was enough to break the bond and I could wiggle it out after that. Post and frame both seem fine.
While WD40 is better than nothing a proper penetrating fluid like plusgas might yield better results. I realise both post and frame are the same material but getting a hair dryer on it to heat the area up might help. Good luck!
Fin at Full Factory Suspension has built a steel box frame he uses with threaded bar to crank seatpost out. If you’ve nothing of the post to latch onto he can use the seat clamp collar. Shouldn’t do much in the way of damage because it’s not an impact thing.
Pour boiling water over the seat tube.
It might expand enough to get the seatpost moving. Then more wd40/3in1. Then more boiling water, heaving, boiling water, heaving. Worked for me.
You don't need to slosh on a kettle at a time. Just enough of a trickle so it flows round the tube, work up and down a few times the length of the seatpost in the tube, so you get max heat from your boiled water.
Get some Plusgas its good stuff and its designed for releasing stuck items.
Beagy, don't fanny around - just get it over to
Post removal is a speciality for him I believe, although not had to use personally to date.
Cheers for all the advice folks! As luck would have it (and as a general rule, I don't), drowning the post in WD-40 and leaving it overnight was enough to break it's grip on the frame.
The post is out, cleaned, re-greased and re-fitted. As is the dropper on my much newer Levo.
Lesson learned!
Don't get any inconvenient, serious illnesses that get in the way of preventative bike maintenance.
B. 🙂
I love Andy (Stirling Bike Doctor)'s videos:
Beagy - general tip is
1) avoid serious illnesses
2) drop the posts once a month. Once the surface starts to corrode they stick too easily.
Helps if you understand the basic chemistry of why Seatposts get stuck - corrosion build-up effectively ‘locks’ the post in place.
If the frame is aluminium alloy then you need a strong alkali to dissolve the aluminium oxide - lemon juice will make it, well, lemony. Likewise Coke (citric acid) will make it’s sticky, unless it’s a steel frame then you’re OK.
What does work is ACF30 a corrosion inhibitor that actively dissolves aluminium oxide.
When this happened to me on a carbon bike I had to resort to putting the entire bike frame upside down with the seatpost (carefully wrapped) in a vice. Then used the extra leverage to turn the frame whilst saying a special prayer to Kona the god of carbon frames in the hope the post would move before the frame. It worked. Phew.
...
And on the strength of this topic, I've lifted as much of the dropper out the frame, given it a good old wipe down and reapplied more anti seize paste.
Better safe than sorry. So thanks for the reminder 😀