Crank removal...am I doing it wrong?

[Joe]

I'm trying to get these Shimano RSX cranks off with no success.
I've removed the crank bolts and am trying to use a Park CCP2 to remove the cranks. I'm removing the larger part of the crank puller and threading into the cranks by hand (tightly) and then threading the inner part of the puller through it. It gets to a certain point and then no amount of force that I can generate can get it any further.

Here are a couple of pics:



Now, am I using the right tool and method? The pusher pin on the end of the crank puller appears to fit just within the square. Do I just need more force? Or am I doing something really stupid?
I'm scared of doing any damage so any help would be much appreciated.

Edit - forget this, I've just got one arm off now so I'm oviously doing it right. Just need more force

 

[Tim Bennet.]

You don't appear to be doing anything wrong. You have the right Park Tool puller for a square taper crank, you seem to be seating the outer bit in far enough, and you don't appear to have left the washer that goes under the crank retaining bolt down in the hole.

So, it clearly needs more welly. Have they been together for a while, especially during the salty winter?

Without wanting to reignite the 'to grease or not to grease the taper' argument, the steel of the axle can get pretty stuck on the aluminium of the cranks, especially if assembled 'dry'.

So try a bit more force, then try tapping the crank boss with a 'soft' hammer (copper / nylon), and apply some PlusGas penetrating fluid into it (lay the bike down) and finally try warming it with a hair dryer.

There is also an accepted method to loosen these where you put the crank retaining bolt back in, but then back it out a couple of turns. Then go and flog the bike up some hill which is said to always get them free, But I've never had to resort to that. But then I don't assemble them 'dry'.

 

[Joe]

Cheers Tim, I've been squirting GT85 in there and looking for (though failing to find) something to give me some more leverage. I do however have a nylon hammer.
As far as I know they've been together since birth sometime in the 90's, though much of that time was spent in a shed. I rescued them last year but as you can probably tell by the pictures I'm not quite the "clean after every ride" sort

 

[Joe]

...and hammer for the win

Forum saves the day again.

 

[02GF74]

obviouls you have done it but the central part of the puller needs to press onto the bottom bracket. Remving the bolts means now there is a hole.

I suspect you puller has a square ends that rest on the taper.

Mine doesn't so I fit a smaller diamer bolt insdie the hole.

Make sure the threads in the crank are clean and you thred in the puller so it is square - all too easy to cross thread the crank.

Then once it is done up tigh, a light tamp with a hammer can "shock" the crank to release.

 

[Tynan]

is this one related to the 'used the wrong puller and snapped the pin' thread?

 

[Joe]

No, that was a few weeks ago on my other bike. And why I was double checking on here this time

 

[Tynan]

ah sorry and my apologies for my suggestion

 

[simoncc]

The best way to get round this problem is to have a piece of tubing to fit over the handle to vastly increase leverage. The hammer method works fine too, and I have a hard plastic mallet from the £1 shop that I used until I cadged a length of steel tube from a engineering workshop.

 

[mickle]

obviouls you have done it but the central part of the puller needs to press onto the bottom bracket. Remving the bolts means now there is a hole.

I suspect you puller has a square ends that rest on the taper.

Mine doesn't so I fit a smaller diamer bolt insdie the hole.

Make sure the threads in the crank are clean and you thred in the puller so it is square - all too easy to cross thread the crank.

Then once it is done up tigh, a light tamp with a hammer can "shock" the crank to release.

Spray that again?!

 

[mickle]

The best way to get round this problem is to have a piece of tubing to fit over the handle to vastly increase leverage. The hammer method works fine too, and I have a hard plastic mallet from the £1 shop that I used until I cadged a length of steel tube from a engineering workshop.

Wrong. The best way to get around this problem is to discard the Park crank extractor into the recycling bin and buy a proper crank extractor like a Campag or Pedros (Campag clone) and use it with a 15mm ratchet like the one manufactured by Hozan.