cotter pins

[Tail End Charlie]

I recently bought , and have just used for the first time , a ball joint splitter to remove my cotter pins, how easy was that, View attachment 632299 , i usually use the vice and socket method but never again . a 15 min soak in plusgas and the ball joint splitter took them out with no effort at all
View attachment 632298

That's what I use, but be mindful that sometimes there can be a right crack when it finally works. The first couple of times I thought I had broken something.

 

[Tail End Charlie]

There are several things to be careful with cotter pins, such as not using the nut to tighten them in; bashing the pin end to remove will only mushroom it over. Even getting the right size pin (there are two diameters). And finally fitting them the right way round, received wisdom is for the pin to be pointing upwards when the crank is forward. I don't mind cotter pins, but fitting them isn't bash in and forget. Another thing is be prepared to file the face of the pin to get a better fit. If you grease things up and push one in, then remove it, there'll be a line marked in the grease. You need to file below this line, so the pin will go in further next time, taking care to keep faces flat etc. You may need to do this a couple of times.
So yeah, in short, square taper is much easier.

 

[raleighnut]

I was about to mention the same thing as @Dogtrousers , when his post appeared. I've done this to get the pins out of my Raleigh shopper, prior to servicing its BB. I then realised that Raleigh BB threads are peculiar to them. As it only ever goes 2 miles to the shops, I can live with a slight clicking noise.

I converted my Raleigh 'City' 3 speed to square taper by using the Raleigh cups with a square taper shaft I had in my spares box and some caged ball bearings. It wasn't eactly the right length but taking the (dished) sprocket off the SA hub and turning it round got me an acceptable chainline.

 

[Tail End Charlie]

In my morning's cotter pin research, RJ the Bike Guy propped a piece of wood between the ground and the underside of the crank, to absorb most of the impact and prevent it from being transferred too much into the bottom bracket and bearings.

That's exactly what I have, with "Crank Support" in big letters on it, so I don't think it's a spare piece of wood and throw it on my wood stove!

Edit - that's what I had before getting a ball joint splitter. Although it probably is still in the garage somewhere.

 

[Tail End Charlie]

I converted my Raleigh 'City' 3 speed to square taper by using the Raleigh cups with a square taper shaft I had in my spares box and some caged ball bearings. It wasn't eactly the right length but taking the (dished) sprocket off the SA hub and turning it round got me an acceptable chainline.

Top fettling, there's always a way round things.

 

[roadrash]

Horrible things, I wouldn't touch one.

I have 4 bikes with cottered cranks.

 

[raleighnut]

Top fettling, there's always a way round things.

Still looks quite 'period' too

 

[Dogtrousers]

I didn't know that you shouldn't use the nut to tighten them. Too late for me to go back and do it right.

I hope I never have to put that bit of learning to use

 

[rogerzilla]

Named after Mr Brinell, who invented a hardness test where a ball is pressed into a material, and the size of the dent measured. It has become an engineering term for similar denting, even if not done as part of a hardness test.

what is a brinell