Crank Puller

So I have a ISIS/splined crank puller and went to my LBS today to grab a puller for my square tapered cranks. They guy at the store said I don’t need a separate one, and that all I needed to do was to take the little nut off the crank puller (the end piece) and then put a dime over top of the square hole, and just use the puller as if it were a square tapered puller.

So I went home and tried it out, and it worked great! Although, you lose a dime in the process so after a few years it could get costly :roll_eyes:

Has anyone else heard of this secret? If so has anyone heard of any bad coming from it? Both the crank and puller looked fine afterwards, no visible signs of damage.

I’ve heard of doing this before and for most it seems to work well, but I do remember somebody saying that their crank puller just punched right through and screwed up their crank bolt threads, so just be sure to put in enough dimes that it won’t punch through.

somebody I know(can’t remember who right now though curse my memory) has done it and their cranks were so stuck that they put multiple dimes under the crank puller and I think lost about 40 cents in the process of removing their cranks.

That’s awesome. Could have used this trick the night before the first stage!

Well, I only have tried it on one set of cranks, and it punch through the dime last minute on both cranks! but it didnt break anything, thas for sure, I guess multiple dimes would make sense…!

As some have found, this “trick” has resulted in damaged threads.

So… what’s cheaper… the proper tool, or a new set of cranks (plus lost time waiting for new cranks)?

Always use the right tool for the job.

I wasnt trying to imply that there is no need for a square tapered crank puller; but was questioning the method itself, I didnt want to continue with the method if I knew that it would damage, although as in my case , it does work if you are caught and dont have one. I wouldnt recommend using it like that 100% of the time, in time I will be getting the other crank puller as well, but my lbs didnt have any in stock and thats why he suffested this method.