Lost a whole afternoon to a seized seatpost that should have taken 20 minutes

I was helping a friend with an old Schwinn from the 70s (lucky me) and the seatpost was absolutely frozen. I tried liquid wrench, heat from a torch, even the old pipe wrench trick. Three hours later I finally got it out by cutting a slot in the post with a hacksaw and collapsing it inward. Has anyone else found a secret method for these that doesn't involve turning the frame into scrap?

2 comments

2 Comments

morganhill17d ago

That hacksaw trick is about the only thing that works. Had to do the same on a BMX once.

emma_clark17d ago

Wait, did your friend have to do the same thing on their bike too? My buddy Jake had an old Schwinn with a seat post that was completely stuck. He tried WD-40 and even a breaker bar, nothing worked. Finally he just took a hacksaw to it and cut the post right above the frame. Then he used a chisel to split the rest of it inside and pulled it out in pieces. Took him like two hours but he was pretty proud of himself after.