$20 61 Schwinn Hornet

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subadrew

subadrew

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Advertised as a parts (1953 schwinn) bike on craigslist. Found serial number k148022.

Bought it mostly for the truss rod (which were missing the top piece) and the chainring once I found the bent/stuck frame bits. I ended up finding the top piece for the truss rod in a bag that was also included so I'm happy as is. Then I did some research and found out it was a hornet!

61schwinn.jpg

61schwinn2.jpg

61schwinn3.jpg


And the bad news

stuck stem (haven't tried it myself)
61schwinnstem.jpg


Stuck seatpost (haven't tried mit myself)
61schwinnseatpost.jpg


Bent frame =(
61schwinntube.jpg


The wheels are Taiwan knocks so not really of value.

Any techniques you can suggest for fixing the frame? I'll try PB Blaster and vise grips (maybe heat too) for the stuck items.
 
Nice bike.

My seat stem remains stuck after trying everything, so I ride it with the seat an inch too lo.
 
Seat post:

Drill a 3/8 ,1/4 hole through it and stick an old axle through. Walk a nut up on one side.
Holding the frame upside down, in your left hand take a 3lb. maul to the protruding axle.

If this doesn't work, torch the seat tube until you hear a "tick or a click" (this is your frame letting go of the post)

Then hit it again.

Make sure no puppies are in the way.
 
Lonewolf said:
...Make sure no puppies are in the way.
Click to expand...

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

I always had good luck in the vice. I always give the post a good penetrating oil soak (I'm partial to Kroil, the king of kreeping oils :D), then clamp the seat post up in the vice, and twist the frame around the post... that method hasn't let me down yet. The only downside is that your post gets 2-dimensionalized.

On the stem, I cut it off just like that and pound the wedge downward with a punch and hammer. If you can punch it down out of the stem, the fragments of the stem can (usually) be easily removed. Otherwise I usually weld some kind of bar onto the stem itself (old kickstand work good!) and crank it on out. The axle thing mentioned above would do the same, without the welding.

The frame bend could probably be fixed with some heat and some persistence.

Good luck!
 
Nice score, I'd personally wrap the frame in a towel and bench vise the bent area back to straight. If you take some time you can probably save the original paint under the spraybomb.

As for the seat post, penetrating oil, a seat bolted on, and persuasion. sometimes a pipe wrench can be of some help too.

Another thing I have found that works "if the seat post is the right size" (won't work on yours) is to put a junk stem down inside it and tighten it up then use a pipe or old handlebar to turn it. ONLY DO THIS IF YOU HAVE EXCESS AT THE TOP TO CLAMP ONTO OR YOU CAN MAKE IT WORSE!

Same for the forks, if nothing else take a pipe cutter and cut the steer tube off and weld on another from a different set of forks.
 
outskirt,
I'm 'kinda' looking for a Schwinn frame that takes a 'Phantom' style tank to cut up for a 'dream' project.
Since the seatstays are bent, this would be a perfect 'cut n' hack' candidate.
Let me know if you want to dump it cheap....

Cheers!
Dr. T
 
I'm gonna try to fix the frame first. If I can straighten the stay and get the seatpost, I should be able to make this a rider. I'm curious if I can do those two things if I can indeed save the original paint underneath. I'll stick part of the chainguard in some purple power over lunch and see how it works after 4-5 hrs.
 
subadrew said:
I'm gonna try to fix the frame first. If I can straighten the stay and get the seatpost, I should be able to make this a rider. I'm curious if I can do those two things if I can indeed save the original paint underneath. I'll stick part of the chainguard in some purple power over lunch and see how it works after 4-5 hrs.
Click to expand...

Dude! So sorry, I addressed that wrong, kinda lost track in thread.

good luck onthe build.

Dr. T
 
man that seatpost is stuck. Wish I had a table vise but I only have vise grips (and that wasn't doin it). Tightening a seat to the clamp wouldn't create enough torque to budge this seatpost without bending the seat rails. Used most of the can on the seatpost and still nothing. Tried heating the post itself up (I know, wrong place to put heat but once it fully cools down it may create some "recesses" for the PB Blaster to soak in more) but that hasn't worked... yet. I'm still trying to save what paint I can till I can see what I have to work with.

I'll try some more after work.
 
I don't know if a welder would take the job given that it's small, but if it comes down to it you could have a welder (or anyone willing, and owning a MIG welder) to weld some kind of bar across the seat post for leverage. Although it now seems doubtful, sometimes welding it produces enough heat to free it up too (though as you mentioned, heating the post itself hasn't been very fruitful thus far). And although it may seem counter-productive, you might also try pounding the seat post down a little. If you can free it up one way, it might be more willing to move the other way. (Just don't hit it too hard ans send it down to the point of no return :mrgreen: I'm kind of speaking from experience).
 
Unchained said:
I don't know if a welder would take the job given that it's small, but if it comes down to it you could have a welder (or anyone willing, and owning a MIG welder) to weld some kind of bar across the seat post for leverage. Although it now seems doubtful, sometimes welding it produces enough heat to free it up too (though as you mentioned, heating the post itself hasn't been very fruitful thus far). And although it may seem counter-productive, you might also try pounding the seat post down a little. If you can free it up one way, it might be more willing to move the other way. (Just don't hit it too hard ans send it down to the point of no return :mrgreen: I'm kind of speaking from experience).
Click to expand...


No access to a welder but might be able to get a buddy to help who live sorta close. He likely also has a vice to try that first. I heated it pretty good with a propane torch. and I tried the hammer it down a little too to no avail. I'll keep working on it.

my thoughts on the stem wedge was to take the front fender off and try hammering it out from the bottom, but guess what... the fender bolt on the bottom of the fork is also stuck. At lease I might be able to drill that out if I need to.
 
Like someone else here said, clamp the seat post in a vice and use the frame itself to free it.
 
I recently pulled an old Huffy bmx out of the woods and it was pretty rusted(pics later). The seat post on it was rusted in place, also. I soaked it with PB Blaster, and let it sit overnight. Then I took a wooden mallet and kept hitting the frame around the seat post while attempting to turn the seat. It took about a half hour, but it finally broke free.
 
I actually went and bought a vise last night since it is a tool I should have. But I have no table to bolt it on so I didn't get much of a chance to try it out. I did straighten the frame my putting it in the vise (first wrapping in a cut innertube). Worked pretty well and the bend is hardly noticable now.

I did tighten the vise onto the seatpost to test it and already bent the handle of the vise. DON'T BUY AN IRWIN VISE. If the handle breaks I kept the receipt. I'll likely just bolt the vise to some mdf I can stand on then try yanking on the frame. I'm not pretty determined to at least save the frame.
 
Finally got the seatpost out! Table vise in mdf with the car parked on it to hold it down FTW! Still took a ton of effort.

Now to think of a way to get the stem out... It actually looks like the quill bolt is snapped inside the steerer. Any suggestion for that one?

I'm going to keep the paint on it. Too much hassle to try to restore the old paint unless there's a miracle chemical out there. Mineral oil and simple green didn't do anything.
 
still working on trying to get the stem out. My arms are sore. Tried PB blaster every day for a week now. Got it in the table vise (on a table now). Squished it into a square shape.. nothin... heated it with propane... nothin...

I'm gonna ride this hornet dammit [with the original fork]! :lol:

There may be a hacksaw blade in my future
 
Can you go up thru the bottom side of the fork neck with a steel rod or a punch and push it back out the top?
 
Robeast said:
Can you go up thru the bottom side of the fork neck with a steel rod or a punch and push it back out the top?
Click to expand...

I can't even get the front fender off (bolt rusted it). If I tried to go in that way, I'd likely have to drill out the bottom of the fork which, although easy, would likely weaken the fork significantly.
 

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