Rant: A customer in Tempe brought in a vintage steel frame with a seized seatpost after they tried to remove it themselves with a pipe wrench.

I ended up using a mixture of penetrating oil, a bench vise, and a 4-foot cheater bar on a seatpost clamp tool, which finally broke it free after three days of soaking and a lot of careful heat, but I'm curious if anyone has a better method for these old Reynolds 531 frames.

3 comments

3 Comments

sandra4121mo ago

Ever try freezing the whole frame upside down first?

cooper.max5d agoMost Upvoted

Wait, are we seriously treating a stuck seatpost like open heart surgery now? Three days of soaking and dry ice sounds like overkill for something a little heat and a pipe wrench can usually sort out. I guess if your frame is made of unicorn bones and you need to preserve the patina, sure, knock yourself out.

robin3961mo ago

Honestly, that's pretty much the textbook method right there. I mean, the only thing I'd add is sometimes using a dry ice spray on the post itself while heating the frame tube can create a bigger temperature difference. But yeah, three days of soaking with a good oil is key for those old Reynolds tubes.