I never thought I could be so dumb

General
1

You might recall that I needed a new set of cranks for my 24 inch Torker. I didn’t get any new cranks yet but I decided to try testing my 24 out with a set of five inch cranks off of my 20 incher. A few days ago, before I knew my crank was bent, I tried tightening my crank. I did the whole grease and rubber mallet thing. Well today when I tried to take them off I noticed they were stuck on real tight. Try as I might with my Park Tool crank remover, the crank wouldn’t budge. Finally after a fight I won, or so I thought I did.

Yada Yada Yada

I’m such an idiot! Removing the nut holding that crank on before using the crank remover would have helped. Now I have a bent crank stuck on my unicycle. The threads that are used to aid in the removal of the cranks are now wires.

I guess it’s not that bad. I mean at least it was a bent crank that I ruined. But now how do I get the crank off?!?!

Please send some ideas.

Thanks,
Daniel

2

take the nut off and go hop around.the crank should come loose after awile.

i also have this tool that i dont know the name of that looks like a fork and you put it behind the crank arm then pound on it with a hammer.this tool takes off any crank arm but it will scuff it up so i only use it in a case like yours.

3

That is what I have been doing with no success. Could you please post a pic of that tool you were talking about?

Thanks,
Daniel

4

i dont have a camera:( .its a last resort tool anyway.somebody called it a swedge once but i dont think thats the proper name for this tool.

5

What you want is a bearing puller. That works a bit like a crank remover, but grips the other side of the crank, between the crank and the bearing. Sofa’s recent thread on bearing overhauls has a picture of one. http://london.unicyclist.com/Tips/BearingOverhaul/Bearings.htm If you don’t want to buy one your LBS might have one, and it shouldn’t take long so shouldn’t be expensive.
I think using the wedge is generally a bad idea on unicycles because it might damage the bearings, which isn;t as much of a problem on a bike.

Hope that helps

John

6

I did something similar to my b*ke many years ago. I took off the nut but missed the washer :roll_eyes: . Pulled all the threads off the crank.

Here is something like the splitter mentioned by jagur

You might be able to make something like this:

Or buy/borrow one of these:

The riding trick only works when you DON’T want the crank to come off. If you do want it to come off then it will stay welded on :slight_smile: .

7

Heh, I’ve done that. I recall thinking “wow, this is stiff!” before realising I’d not taken the nut off. It did damage the crank a bit, but not enough to stop it coming off.

Maybe it’s just one of those things everyone has to do once… :slight_smile:

Phil

8

By way of unifraternal solidarity, I too confess to making this mistake once.:o

9

The crank is bent. Use a hacksaw. Cut the crank almost all the way through, being careful not to score the axle.

THEN go hopping.

Just kidding. Use the hacksaw, then place a chisel into the saw cut and strike with a hammer to crack crank the rest of the way through.

10

take off the crank nut then take off the frame and use a bearing puller on the crank

11

I bent the threads where the crank remover would go. here’s the only thing that worked (i rode it hopped on it, etc…for hours)

if you hacksaw and chisel, ect… you may ruin your still good hub

Take a butane torch…you know, the kind used to heat up knife tips? Heat up your cranks right by the spindle. they will eXpand and fall off. In about 1 minute.

this was for an aluminum crank, but I bet the same physics would apply with a steel one

And BTW…that’s the funniest thing I’ve read in a long time! (mostly because I can picture me doing something like that!)

12

How true! Murphy’s law applied to unicycles. I’ve seen that one in action.

But back to removing the crank.

Nobody seems to have noticed this yet, but you probably don’t have to. The axle is shot! Without threads on the axle, you can’t put on a future crank tight enough. Believe me. You might be able to ride the current one for a while, but like NB said, if you want it to stay tight, you’ll only get 30 seconds of riding out of it.

So you might as well just take the wheel apart, and charge the cost of new axle, spokes, and nipples to a mechanical learning experience… :frowning:

13

The axle should be fine; it’s the threads on the crank that the crank-puller, ah, pulls.

Tim

14

have another cup of coffee John.:slight_smile:

15

Quit. Give up. Throw in the towel. Take your uni to the bike shop, they have torches and hacksaws, let them have a good laugh, then never touch anything that even looks like a tool again. carjug

16

Duh. For some reason, I thought the axle threads were killed as well.

I don’t drink coffee.

Okay, just ride it and be patient. Don’t ride too far!

17

I tried the whole riding and hopping thing. I tried going to an auto shop and getting a bearing puller, actually it was a gear puller. Both didn’t work. The puller couldn’t fit between the bearing and the crank. Right now the crank is at a local bike shop. The guys there said they’d take a look at it. I’m going back after work to see if they figured anything out. If that doesn’t work, I’ll try more riding and hopping.

Thanks for all your suggestions.
Daniel.

18

heating it up with a torch will work…the exact sme thing happened to me (wrecked threads, that is…not the whole ‘i didn’t take the threads off’ bit)

the metal of the crank will expand , and the spindle will stay the same size (because the heat didn’t get there yet)

19

Unless you get a professional to do the heating up thinggy then you have a good chance on wreaking the heat treat on your hub you see the hub is heated up then cooled extremey fast making it hard but when i heats down slowly it gets soft

This all depends on the amount of heat, size of torch, etc

20

Greetings, Brothers!:smiley: