Removing Tiagra cranks

Sea_Green_Incorruptible

Hi folks,

Dipping my toe into the water of bike mechanics by converting my old roadie into a flat bar single speed. All good fun so far... but I've run into a problem with the cranks. I want to take these off and clean up properly. Reading ZInn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance, it sounds like I should be able to just undo the outer bolt and pull them off (or maybe not: I was quite tired last night when I was trying to work this out: could well have got it wrong) but no joy.

So.. I'm assuming I need a crank puller of some sort? Am I right? Or could the cranks have just seized on? If the former, would I need a special type of cranke puller or are they all generic?

Many thanks in advance....

nicklouse

yes a crank puller is normally needed.

newer ones do not.

have a look on PARK for nice pics and what tools.

linky below.

Sea_Green_Incorruptible

Thought so. Thanks Nick...

Sea_Green_Incorruptible

Ok. So I bought myself a crank puller. A Shimano Cotterless Crank Extractor TL-FC10 to be exact. But can't for the life of me seem to get it to work. It threads into the crank fine but then locks solid when I try turn the inner spindle. I don't want to force it, but it feels like I'm going to have to if I want to make progress. A couple of questions then:

1) Could I have bought the wrong type of crank puller? I have Tiagra cranks from about 2001 on my bike. Might these be incompatible with current Shimano tools?

2) Do I just need to use a bit more brute strength to get the damn thing off? Or should it just come off easily.

As always, any help or advice greatly appreciated.

By the way, the conversion project itself is great fun. Helping to remove some of the mystery from bike mechanics. When you take a bike apart bolt by bolt you suddenly understand how everything works a bit better (and how my appalling lack of maintenance in the past led to the condition my sprockets are in today - hem hem). Just hope I can put it all back together when it comes to it...

st199ml

Looking at the Shimano website, even the more modern Tiagra seems to be a standard square taper crank.

Take a look at how the crank is attached to the bottom bracket axle. Is it square? If so you have the right tool.

Bearing in mind you mentioned zero maintenance, I'd suggest that it might need a bit more brute power than you're currently giving it. The assembly is only an interference fit so it has to be darn tight. It usually takes one hefty turn and the crank all but pops off.

Streak

The cranks are usually very tight, just make sure that when you removed the crank bolts that you did not leave the washers in there, and that the removal tool is screwed fully home into the crank otherwise you will strip the threads!

Streak

zoggz

hi take a look at the video on the home page on how to remove square taper cranks...this may help a little .. good look fella. ps you may need to give it some more oommphh with the cp

gkerr4

they are really tight - as above make sure there are no washers in there, make sure the outer thread is well into the crank body cos if the crank thread strips you will be in big trouble!

then it'll take a fair bit of effort to crack it - they the cranks will practially fall off

Sea_Green_Incorruptible

Bingo! Thanks folks. A bit of elbow grease and my frame is now crankless (though for a moment there I did wonder whether my cranks might end up threadlless!).
Cheers!

Sea_Green_Incorruptible

Here we go folks - here's the final result.

I ended up abandoning the fixie idea as it was just too tricky. Otherwise, it all turned out to be remarkably straightforward (and cheap too).

Stripped the whole bike down and cleaned everything up. Removed the front and rear derailliers, the big chainring from the crankset (replaced with a washer on each fixing bolt), the drop handlebars, knackered STI levers and gear cables. Took the flat handlebar and brake levers off my old (knackered) mountain bike. Then bought some new brake cables, shortened the chain and put it all back together. Got lucky on the chain tension too - probably a wee bit too tight but not by much. The one thing I've got left to do is replace the unused sprockets at the back with spacers.

Otherwise I am well pleased. The ride is fantastic: so smooth and silent! Just the thing for popping down to the shops. Thanks for all the suggestions and advice!