Can we talk about the time a customer's old Campagnolo seatpost seized in a steel frame?

This was in my first shop in Boulder, and the guy brought in a classic Bianchi that hadn't been touched since the 80s. I tried everything from a bench vise to a long cheater bar, but it wouldn't budge until I soaked it in a mix of acetone and ATF for a solid week. What's your go-to method for a truly frozen aluminum-in-steel situation these days?

3 comments

3 Comments

avery_fox9322d ago

That acetone and ATF trick is basically black magic when it works (learned it from an old timer myself). Honestly, for something that bad, patience and heat cycles are your best friend now. Let the penetrant do its thing, then carefully warm the seat tube with a heat gun, not a torch, to avoid wrecking the paint. The different expansion rates can sometimes break that bond just enough to get it moving with a solid bench vise setup.

davidh9016d ago

Honestly, @avery_fox93, sometimes you gotta just go straight for the torch. All that waiting around for penetrant feels like a waste of a weekend when a quick, careful blast gets it loose in two minutes.

anna_shah922d ago

Oh man, I feel that pain. My last resort is usually a frame splitter, but you have to be so careful not to wreck the frame. That acetone and ATF mix is a classic for a reason, it just takes forever.