Santa Cruz removing main pivot...

miss notax

This afternoons 'challenge' has been to finally take apart the Santa Cruz frame for respraying - I naively thought that this would be a fairly simple task (ha!) but a few hours later I have come to a halt :?

I have taken off the rear shock and all the other bits and bobs, and the main pivot is the last bit to remove. I have unscrewed one of the caps and taken it off, but can't get the equivalent other side off and / or remove the actual axel itself. Having failed through trail and error I have had a hunt online which mentioned a special tool - do I need anything specific to do this? Or am I just being an idiot :oops:

I am also having a nightmare removing the bloody stickers - the top layer has come off, leaving a sticky residue layer that I can't shift. Answers on a postcard to.....

It doesn't help that I am also have a bit of a hangover after my sister in laws 40th last night :evil:

If anyone could offer any advice I would be very grateful! I thought thjis project would increase my bike knowledge, but at the moment i'm finding it flipping annoying and it seems to be taking me about a day to complete something trivial that a proper bike mechanic could do in 10 minutes

Thank you 8)

Horton

This might help http://www.santacruzbikes.co.uk/tech/JulianaBearing.pdf

I'm sure you have, but first things first, undo the 2 pinch bolts. Assuming you've done that, just sounds like you might need to screw the cap that you've already taken off back on a few turns and give it a tap or two to get the axle out - once it's loose, unscrew the cap you has already taken off and the able should then slide out. It's is a tight fit, to maybe a bit of GT85 could help.

Not aware of any special tools - my ancient Heckler had a similar design but the axle pretty much just fell out on account of the bearings having disintegrated last time I stripped it and replaced the whole lot - axle, bearings and caps.

As for the stickers, are you spraying yourself? If not just get the sprayers to give it a quick (gentle) bead blast to strip the whole thing back.

miss notax

Thanks Horton (I thought I had replied to this days ago but obviously not :oops: ) - that's really helpful. I'll try the gentle tap approach and see what happens! Most of it was easy to take apart, but not being particularly mechanically-minded I found this tricky as I can't actually see whats happening :?

A friend of mine is kindly respraying the bike - he's very good, but the deal is that I prep the bike and do all the donkey-work for him. I guess white spirit would probably get all the gunk off....?

nicklouse

Yes but it leaves a whole lot of residue that paint does not like.

I would actually ask the painter what he would use. Then he does not have any surprises.

miss notax

nicklouse wrote:

I would actually ask the painter what he would use. Then he does not have any surprises.

Good point - got to be the sensible option really, hasn't it!!

Seemed like a great idea to get the frame resprayed but it never occured to me that taking EVERYTHING off would be such a pain in the backside :? I'm sure it's easy when you know what you're doing, but 'one woman and a multitool' style has been hard work. It had better look bloody amazing when it's done!!

Horton

As ever, Nick has a good point, but just to add, the guys at Jungle are amazingly helpful so if you're still struggling with the axle, or need new decals once painted etc. give 'em a call!

punkatron1

I'm in the process of doing the same with my old heckler. The guys at Jungle were really helpful. My axle had actually sheared through, new one and bearings were £25.

To get the main pivot out I just took off the end nuts, slackened off the pinch screws and tapped the axle out with a screwdriver and rubber mallet.