Broken Seat Post

Zorba

Yes i made a mess of taking out my wedged seat post and to cut a long story short i'm thinking of just leaving the bloody thing in the frame. I've about 2 inches of seatpost in the frame which will move freely between the holes for the bottle cage on the seat tube and about 2 inches from the top of the seat tube. No matter what i've tried, filing, sawing, oiling etc etc i can't seem to shift the thing any further up the seat post tube, as i said i can get it about 2 inches from the top of the seatpost tube before it becomes wedged.

So at the moment i've left it in there and put the new seatpost on which works grand, ie the old seat post isn't interferring with it at all, but i'm wondering how much will the old seatpost rattle when i'm out for a spin.

Any suggestions comments welcome,

tegrahead

try wedging a little packing foam (the plastic type). it should keep the old seat post from moving and rattling, yet its still light and won't soak up any moisture / water.

Zorba

Hmmm might do that alright, haven't yet gone out for a spin so don't know how much it's gonna rattle, still tryna think of someway i can get the feckin' thing out though :mad:

petethedrummer

Zorba wrote: »

Hmmm might do that alright, haven't yet gone out for a spin so don't know how much it's gonna rattle, still tryna think of someway i can get the feckin' thing out though :mad:

Pull it up as far as you can and clamp it in place with vice grips. Then get a long hacksaw blade wrapped in a towel and keep sawing. It's the only way.

It slow and laborious doing the sawing but it will eventually come out. You may need to cut on two sides since its stuck inside and you can't get any purchase to pull it out. Hopefully there will be minimal damage to the frame.

Or you could ram as far down the seat tube as it will go, so it doesn't rattle.

Lumen

How about those cam yokes that climbers use to attach ropes to holes in cliff faces?

petethedrummer

Lumen wrote: »

How about those cam yokes that climbers use to attach ropes to holes in cliff faces?

pic?? i can't visualise what you're taking about.

Lumen

petethedrummer wrote: »

pic?? i can't visualise what you're taking about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V3rhM0mUK0c

Zorba

petethedrummer wrote: »

Pull it up as far as you can and clamp it in place with vice grips. Then get a long hacksaw blade wrapped in a towel and keep sawing. It's the only way.

It slow and laborious doing the sawing but it will eventually come out. You may need to cut on two sides since its stuck inside and you can't get any purchase to pull it out. Hopefully there will be minimal damage to the frame.

Or you could ram as far down the seat tube as it will go, so it doesn't rattle.

Well it's down at the holes for the water bottle holder, can't push it down any further cos they stick out too far inside the frame if u know what i mean ?

Have tried sawing it already but very very paranoid about damaging the frame, can't afford a new one at the moment !

Seen while i was searching the net someone suggested using an Easy Out bolt extractor but the largest one i could find on the net is 24mm, seatpost is 27.2 so not sure that'd help.

Lumen

That cam yoke could work but i'm trying think how would i get it around the broken seatpost and then again where would i get them cam yokes ?

Lumen

Zorba wrote: »

That cam yoke could work but i'm trying think how would i get it around the broken seatpost and then again where would i get them cam yokes ?

From your description it sounds like you have a broken section of seatpost rattling around inside your seat tube. You need to grip it to get it out. You can't grip the outside, but this cam device will grip the inside. Unfortunately it will also press it against the inside of the seat tube, but it's the only idea I have.

I've no idea whether they come in an appropriately size, or will work at all, but maybe ask here if you can borrow one.

Zorba

Lumen wrote: »

From your description it sounds like you have a broken section of seatpost rattling around inside your seat tube. You need to grip it to get it out. You can't grip the outside, but this cam device will grip the inside. Unfortunately it will also press it against the inside of the seat tube, but it's the only idea I have.

I've no idea whether they come in an appropriately size, or will work at all, but maybe ask here if you can borrow one.

Thanks for your idea but definately don't like the sound of it pushing the seat tube out of shape, (it's a Colnago frame which i quiet like) so really want to be careful here.

As u said it's about 2 inches of seapost that's rattling around in my seat tube, originally thought i could let it fall down to the bottom bracket and take the bracket out and cut the seatpost out from there but it won't go past the holes for the bottle cage :mad:

Canis Lupus

Zorba wrote: »

Hmmm might do that alright, haven't yet gone out for a spin so don't know how much it's gonna rattle, still tryna think of someway i can get the feckin' thing out though :mad:

Angle grinder!!! or or.... DYNAMITE!!!!

MacGyver

we had a similar situation with a carbon seat post. the solution after ages cutting and sawing with a hacksaw blade was to get a stem from a kids bike or similar and place it into the piece of the seat post and tighten onit but not too tight. then twist it out. use some wd40 or similar to slip it out. Job done. you need something like the bottom piece in this picture http://www.jebikes.com/wp-content/gallery/bmx-tech-tips/bmx_bikes_threaded_stem_05.jpg

Zorba

MacGyver wrote: »

we had a similar situation with a carbon seat post. the solution after ages cutting and sawing with a hacksaw blade was to get a stem from a kids bike or similar and place it into the piece of the seat post and tighten onit but not too tight. then twist it out. use some wd40 or similar to slip it out. Job done. you need something like the bottom piece in this picture http://www.jebikes.com/wp-content/gallery/bmx-tech-tips/bmx_bikes_threaded_stem_05.jpg

Now that is a good idea, will have to take the stem and handlebars off my very old bike and give that a go, might just do the trick.

Canis Lupus

Believe me in the middle of all that filing and sawing and cursing at the damn thing i was very very very tempted to go down the angle grinder route !