From: tan@lynx.msc.cornell.edu.UUCP (David Tan,Box 219 Baker Lab,54810,2720402)
Subject: SUMMARY: stuck crankarms
Originator: tan@msc2.msc.cornell.edu
Organization: Cornell-Materials-Science-Center
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 16:12:27 GMT

About a week ago I posted a question about removing crankarms stuck to
the BB spindle.  Here are the responses I got, and what I did.

Thanks to all who replied!

Several people suggested using a pulley puller or automotive gear puller,
apparently a device with arms that hold onto the spider and a shaft that
goes into the bolt hole, although one said that he snapped off an arm of
the spider doing this.

One respondent suggested removing the adjustable cup on the side opposite
to the stuck crank, taking a drift, and pounding the spindle out.  He warned
that this could be destructive to the spindle.  (If the crank is on the left
side, you can just remove the adj. cup, pull out the spindle, and pound out
the spindle without worrying about damage to the frame.)

A couple of people suggested riding it until it came loose.  I suppose that
would work...if you don't mind being stranded when it does come loose.

One noted that if the threads were completely stripped, you wouldn't want
to use the crank anyway, and you might as well saw the thing off.

One suggested heating the crank up to about 300-40 degrees, noting that
aluminum will expand more than steel, but warning not to use too high 
a temperature, as the "aluminum may begin to recrystallize and warp."

--------------

Not having access to a pulley puller, I tried pounding the spindle out with 
a drift.  Since this wasn't my bike, I didn't want to pound too hard; of
course the spindle refused to come out.  At this point I gave up (I'm much
more leery of damaging other's bikes than I am of my own) and got professional
help (Glenn Swan, for all you VeloNews readers: he's the guy with the bunny
strapped to his TT bike in the TdF issue.)  On being apprised of my efforts
to pound out the spindle, Swan said that he'd probably have to do the same,
only using a bigger hammer, but first he said he'd try something else, and
took out his Campy crank extractor.  The damn crank came right off.  It was
mortifying.

Some details:  The crank and BB were both Ofmega, and I used a Park
extractor.  The shaft which pushes against the spindle in the Park extractor
is wider than the shaft in the Campy, so that the shaft of the Park would
not fit into the fixing bolt hole.  Also, the hex part of the Campy tool
(where you attach the wrench) has a smaller effective diameter than the
threaded part, so you can screw the tool in farther than you can the
Park (which fortunately didn't go in deep enough to strip out all
of the threads in the crank socket.)  I was the moron who nearly destroyed
the crank (or at least rendered it unusable.)  To be fair to Park, I've
used their extractor successfully (and uneventfully) on a variety of
cranks, including Sakae, Stronglight, Sugino, and my own Super Record.
I also have other tools of theirs, which I generally find to be quite
satisfactory.  Having said that, however, I'm finding that my collection
of Campagnolo tools keeps increasing...they're ridiculously expensive, but
much cheaper than getting replacement components.  Nothing like the right
tool for the job, I guess.


Dave

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