My $40 Peugeot UO 10 with a few problems
 

I picked up a very clean late 70s Peugeot UO 10 for $40 recently that I started to rebuild. The bike is almost completely original. I enjoy finding bikes that are pretty much all original to rebuild. I'm a fan of UO 10s as my first good bike and my first bike tour was on a red Peugeot UO 10. I worked in a Peugeot shop in the late 80s so I've seen (and sold) a lot of these over the years.

They have good cranks, good wheels, good brakes, and OK derailleurs. They have nice long wheelbases and slack angles so they make great commuters and touring bikes.

I plan to ride it for a while and eventually sell it or perhaps keep it as a loaner bike. I have a pair of decent used 27 inch tires that I threw on the bike so I figure I won't sink too much money into it to get it rideable.

I've overhauled the headset, both wheels, and the bottom bracket (sort of ). The wheels are straight and true. None of the bearing surfaces (headset, BB spindle, and hubs) are pitted. The bike does have two issues, though.

The BB is a headache. The plastic dust cap on the non-drive side has melted into the crank arm. It is a 16 mm bolt and none of my tools will fit. I simply overhauled the fixed up side and threw in new grease on the non drive side using all the old bearings and put it back together. I'm thinking of getting a heat gun to see if I can't melt that plastic out of the threads.

The shifters are a headache as well. One of the cables has become bonded to the shifters. I'm thinking of trying to drill it out but I'm not sure that will work. Any better ideas?

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Try heat on the shift cable end. Either heat gun or hair dryer. And you could try heat on the dust cap too.

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for removal of dustcap remains -

heat up a pin tool on the stove and press it in so that the pins make a depression in the stub such such that it can be turned

or try drilling into the stub with a small bit at two points 180 degrees apart so that a pin tool can remove the stub

the machine's TS chainset takes the old large Verot puller as it launched in 1973-74, prior to the manufacturer's change in 1977 to the 22mm removal thread

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I have a stronglight crank puller. There is not enough left of the old plastic dustcup to turn.

A pin tool?

I've never used a heat gun but I'm thinking it's time to buy one. Any suggestions as to one you like?

I may try that hair dryer first. Do you think my SO will mind, :)?

Do you have a soldering iron? Maybe find a sharp tip and start chasing the threads?
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Many a stubborn plastic crank dust cap have come my way over the years. To remove, I use a very small screwdriver and gently chip/pry and repeat until the pieces are all removed. You would have to get the plastic pretty darn hot to melt it out (my opinion).

As for the cable stuck in the rear derailleur, I would start by putting the derailleur in really hot water for a bit, and then try to remove it. Hot water can work wonders sometimes.

AFAIK soldering iron tips are copper or a copper alloy. May be way too soft for excavations. It's great having a variety of dental pick. Quite useful for this job. And I don't think a hair dryer would be hot enough but hot air guns are not expensive and, like Grandma's lye soap, good for everything in the place.

OP, As to drilling out the cable head: keep in mind that the cable end may look like a round lead button but remember that end is mounded over the end of the cable. The wires inside may even have been flailed out a bit prior to getting potted. I've drilled one out but it's very difficult as you quickly engage those cable wires which aggravate the drill point and ruin the nice hole you made. I don't know a good way but take care. Maybe a carbide cutter in a dremel type tool. I don't think my hand is steady enough for that.

Agreed, I am skeptical of trying to drill it out for the reasons you give which is why I posted the question here. My guess is that a drill is a good way to destroy these shifters.

Agreed that every time I've dealt with plastic bits I've been able to get them out using a small screwdriver. But not this time though. Who knew that delrin could be this tough? The plastic has formed a tough bond with the crank threading. If the danged crank bolts were 15 mm rather than a 16, I'd be able to unscrew them and have more room to use a small screwdriver.

I had that same problem with a plastic dust cap on a Solida crank on a 1985 Peugeot. I used an x-acto knife's smallest chisel -style blade to slowly knock our pieces. Eventually got enough out to where I could get my socket on the bolt sufficiently to get the bolt out. With the bolt out I was able to get out the rest of the plastic. Was concerned that I was going to damage the threads on the crank arm so that the puller threads wouldn't engage, but that did not happen--the plastic pieces down in the threads seemed to protect them. For a derailleur cable end, I used a tiny dremel drill to get enough of that out to where I could remove it. BTW, great looking bike for 40 bucks!

Most likely what is bonding the cable to the shifter is a combination of iron oxide and aluminum oxide. You need a solvent that dissolves one or both of these without attacking the parent aluminum.

Can you remove the lever and soak in the appropriate penetrating chemical of your choice? Similar to old's'cool suggestion?

As to the plastic in the crank threads, patience and perseverance I think. Wonder if it would be possible to apply heat to soften the plastic? Melting point of Delrin is 175C (350F) while aluminum is much higher.....(600C+ according to the great interwebs). If you can do it remove the BB adjustable cups, the axle and the crank arm all in one and place in a 400F oven for a while (make sure you get permission from the SO). Softer plastic might come out easier.....

+ 1 on heat likely being the best solution for the plastic in the crank threads. I'm buying a heat gun. That's a lot easier than negotiating with the SO as to why we need to open the windows to deal with the noxious plastic fumes coming out of the oven. Sometimes I think the best part of any bike rehab is having to buy new tools, :).

Agreed that a solvent for the shifter cable is the best solution but I'm no chemist. I think I'm quite likely to mess up the shifters if I try to drill it out. I'm skeptical of trying heat since the shifters have a lot of plastic bits. Aluminum bits get stuck to steel on bikes a fair bit (stems and seatposts) but this is tough because the part is delicate and small.

Perhaps someone here knows the answer as to which solvent might work. I'll look around the web as well and maybe post this question in the mechanics forum as well.

plastic dust cap remnants
 

I just went through this with a Fuji frameset: plastic dust cap was semi bonded into the DS crank threads. After chipping away as much as I could with a small screwdriver I found I couldn't get into the threads for the rest so I used a pick with an angled tip to finish it off. It worked very well...and the best part is you can get a set of four cheapo picks for 2 bucks at Harbor Freight :)

Nice pick up...good luck with the bike!

Dentists will often have old dental picks if you ask nicely. Or pay them a lot of money, which I've done repeatedly.

@clubman beat me to it. The right-angle picks, you can buy at most CVS on the cheap. If you can catch a thread, you can lift up the plastic as you work the channel. Alternately, you can potentially bend a stout paperclip and sharpen the end. I've had luck clearing the 1st couple threads with an Xacto knife. EDIT: Here's the pick kit our local pharmacy sells: https://www.cvs.com/shop/cvs-health-...-prodid-695117

On the shifter ... typical, and I wish I had a good solution. Simplex levers had a smaller bore for the lead ends to seat, people would file fatter ones to make them fit, or tapping them in like apes. I've never found a silver-bullet solution. Best advice I can give is to cut the wires as close to the head as possible, drill a block of wood with a 1" paddle bit, and use something stout and pointed (like a picture hanging nail) to hammer it out from the backside with the lever on the wood block, lead end over the hole you drilled. If you have metal push-pins, those can work, but the picture framing nails like this sometimes work too, if the plastic in the head doesn't give way too quickly.

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RE: the shift lever with the stuck cable, IF as mentioned above, the cable remnant has “bonded” to the shift lever by the action of corrosion, attack that problem first. For the rust on the cable, get some EvapoRust (available at auto parts stores or large hardware stores) and soak the lower portion of the lever in the solution for several days. I’m not so sure that I’d have the plastic ends of the lever in the EvapoRust tho since I’ve noticed a bit of “softening” of some plastics that have been totally submerged. That process should remove any iron oxide that might be contributing to the “bonding” and weaken the grip of the remaining corrosion.
Since, also as mentioned, the cable head on French cables is smaller in diameter than most cables in current use, a previous owner may have “smashed” the cable head into the smaller than now standard hole in the lever. Tapping it from behind should pop it out. Good luck.

I think one could take a dental pick and scratch at the interface between the lever and the cable end. Go all the way around, trying to cut the cable end rather than the lever. A drop of Liquid Wrench or similar might start working itself into the joint as a result.

bikemig-

To remove the stuck shifter cable end, soak the end in penetrant and the place the lever in hot water to expand the aluminum. Take a pair of pliers with blunt jaw ends and twist the protruding cable end carefully until it is rewound. Use the pliers to slowly press the cable upwards and then out of the shift lever arm. When you install new cables, the new Campy style ones have a smaller diameter than the Shimano style ones and fit the old Simplex drilling better.

Hot water won't do much. Taking the hole diameter as 1/8 inch, a delta-T of 60 degrees centigrade makes the hole one-ten-thousandth of an inch bigger.

As for the rest it sound like the only remaining non-destructive solution.

if the cable is rusted in place spray some PB Beaker in , clip the cable close as you can and the right size screw drive should push it out

I’m currently working on an old Peugeot also and had the same issue with the shift cable.

Used WD40 and a 1/32” nail punch tool and it did the trick.

Good luck!

https://www.amazon.com/Electronic-Ci.../dp/B07RGKDBWH

I've used these to dig out stuff from small crevices... the hooked ended tools can act as a small scoop, which can be handy.

Small drill bit diversion
 

If u drill - as soon as the bit end passes thru the solder making the grommet and hits the steel cable within the grommet it will divert/snap. The cable with splay out compounding the stuck problem.
I would heat with a blowtorch/gas burner and just cycle the healing and cooling until the cable grommet comes loose.
A hair-dryer will do nothing.