Before and after on a seized seatpost, 3 hours of patience

Had a steel frame come through last week with a seatpost stuck so bad the owner was ready to scrap it. I tried the usual tricks, penetrating oil, heat, even a pipe wrench on the collar. Nothing budged for the first hour. Then I remembered a trick from an old shop I worked at in Portland, make a paste of lye and water, pack it around the post, and let it sit for 2 hours. Came back and it twisted out with just a cheater bar, zero damage to the frame. The lye eats the aluminum oxide that binds the post to the steel. Has anyone else tried the lye method or do you stick with ammonia and ATF?

1 comments

1 Comment

felix_black1mo ago

Yep. Lye's the secret sauce, always works.