# 1954 Schwinn Leader



## RustyHornet (Nov 20, 2015)

Fresh off the rebuild of my Admiral, I'm keeping the ball rolling. This will be a quickie as the person I bought it from, my cousin, will be in for thanksgiving and he wants to ride this one. 

Kind of a rare bike, not all that common, although probably not all that valuable ether. But it's cool nonetheless. Will be getting a full clean up, regrease. Have a couple fender braces to replace and I found a set of truss rods that will need straightened. I absolutely cannot stand these style of handlebars so they are getting changed out, as well as a long seat post. On to the pictures! 






Someone has repainted the darts on the fenders, no big deal.








This needs help!!








Someone also tried their hand at pinstriping!




Fork has a slight bend, but not bad enough I'll worry about it now.




This thing is covered in wax.








This should be fun!
Jon


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## RustyHornet (Nov 20, 2015)

First order of business, remove stuck seat post. The old seat twist wouldn't budge it. Cousin said he'd soaked it for weeks before, wouldn't move.

I tried vise grips and a 2 foot bar, when I finally got the vise grips to bite, this happens...




Removed the fenders and guard so they didn't get damaged during the process, let it soak upside down. 




Started polishing on the fenders while the seat post soaked.








Time to get that seat post out. What did Archimedes say? "Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world." I welded this bar so it didn't slip, didn't take long before it moved, still wouldn't come out.




Success!!! Took quite the beating.




That's all for now!
Jon


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## juanitasmith13 (Nov 20, 2015)

Someone way over tightened the seat post clamp... so you will have two indentations [like a gold band on your finger leaves] on the outside of the frame tube, which the seat post fits into... so look inside the frame tube and find the opposite of the outer indentations that had locked your seat post before you got nasty. That one inch + of the frame [where the slot runs down the back side] needs the 'dents' flattened [push the inside protrusions back out] or difficulty with a new seat post may ever after exist. Steel Dolly of some kind inside [pipe expander]... body hammer outside all way around...  until flat horizontally inside tube diameter... or similar.


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## the tinker (Nov 21, 2015)

great job on the welding!  Good job getting it out!


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## RustyHornet (Nov 21, 2015)

the tinker said:


> great job on the welding!  Good job getting it out!




That's not even the pretty side of the welding! Thanks!


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## Kansan (Nov 23, 2015)

Hey dude, be careful with oily rags Etc. around hot water tanks and heater units!!! might make for a bad day.. just looking out for ya.. pic's 2 & 3


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## SirMike1983 (Nov 23, 2015)

I've had luck by repeatedly heating and cooling the seat post, then working Kano Kroil down the seat tube between cycles of heat and cooling.


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## RustyHornet (Nov 23, 2015)

Kansan said:


> Hey dude, be careful with oily rags Etc. around hot water tanks and heater units!!! might make for a bad day.. just looking out for ya.. pic's 2 & 3




Now what's the fun in that!? Fire is exciting!

I don't think this seat post was overtightened. It was deformed at the bottom and flattened on the top, looks like somebody beat it into place. Almost finished tearing it down last night, the stem bolt is stuck so it's soaking upside down right now. I degreased the wheels this morning and the internals are soaking. Plan is to get it back together by Wednesday night.


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## Ross (Dec 4, 2015)

Cool bike, nice shape. 


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## RustyHornet (Dec 4, 2015)

Have been slowly working on this one. Finally got the stem bolt broke loose, but the neck is stuck. It's soaking. Have a couple other projects I've been working on in the mean time.

Jon


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## sleepy (Dec 4, 2015)

Nice work on this, that polished fender looks great.

I've had good luck using a 50/50 mix of acetone and transmission fluid as a penetrating fluid....just needs time to soak.


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