Subject: [CR]Seatpost or frozen stem removal made easy
Joe writes:
"One must be patient" re: stem and seatpost removal.
Sorry, but I'm not patient. Most methods don't work because the vise being used is TOO WIMPY!!!
Yeah, I do dribble in some penetrating fluid from both ends and let the job sit overnight if I can. Eventually I clamp the seatpost in my bench vise attached to a very heavy weld table, grab the frame by the head tube and rear dropouts, and twist while pulling up. There is always some give and this is what you have to develop and work on. If the seat tube gets hot, and it will, sometimes after just a few twists, go away and work on something else for a while until it cools off. Repeat and repeat until the seatpost comes out.
Sometimes a customer has brought me a frame where the seatpost was cut off or twisted off so there is nothing left to clamp. Then I have had to resort to drilling and reaming to get the post out.
Methods to remove a "frozen" stem are really no different except for additional care required so that the fork is not damaged or bent when twisting (which is prevented by properly clamping the fork crown).
Hugh Enox