Seized seatpost? New technique!

[sparkybhp]

Thought I’d post this up as I’ve never seen or heard of this for removing a stuck seatpost. Sheldon Brown says a stuck alloy post in a steel frame needs to be cooled not heated to remove. So, I thought I’d try our firms pipe freezer machine which we use for plumbing jobs..



I was also blasting the exposed areas of frame with an aerosol pipe freezer to chill that down... Hey presto, success!!

 

[marc two tone]

Nice one dude. Im a fan of freezing stuff out myself. I neeeeed that contraction!
Jealous and all that.

 

[novocaine]

nice bit of kit. I don't remove that many seized posts to invest though. pipe freeze can be bought from screwfist or stoolstation for 8 quid a pot though.

 

[Frankenorange]

That is a neat bit of kit. Another option that can work on lightly seized posts is a can of freeze spray that you use on nuts and bolts. I used it alot working on classic cars.
Heat is good for nuts and bolts and generally freeing stuff up but applying heat to an aluminium seatpost, in a steel frame, just makes it fatter in the steel tube. Once it cools down the post may give up and come out, but freezing is king and better for the paintwork than fire.