pandaparry

Hello,

I am trying to remove all parts from a Pinarello Montello frame to have it stripped/repainted, but now I am having problems with the dust caps. Probably not the first having problems with these... Tried the softer approaches first (needle nose pliers, hex wrench) and went to screwdriver later. Could not get any movement (looks hammered in?), so now the cap is wrecked. Just need to get cranks and bb out and as they are not in a very good state, I don't care what happens to them.
At this moment I just see a campa bolt, and not sure whether this is part of the cap or of the crank? I assumed it would be something similar to the one seen on the pictures of the silver crank, which would mean the bolt is part of the cap (cannot find any pictures of the backside of these caps). Any advice on best way forward? Clear the bolt and unscrew this, or something else? Hope I can escape the need for powertools...

Thanks,

Kees

Spaghetti Legs 

That looks to be a dust cap, separate from the bolt that you see. All the ones I've seen in the style of that one pictured are plastic. For tough dust caps that I've given up on preserving, I drill small holes to fit my Park flexible pin spanner. You might be able to do something like that with what's left. Worse come to worst, I would just dremel it down to the threads and it should just fall out in pieces. Don't damage the threads though, as you want be able to thread a crank puller in there.

Edit: the Dremel idea, you would need to remove the crank bolt first.

ThermionicScott 

Dust caps typically screw into the extractor threads, so that's why medieval approaches like wrenches and pliers didn't work. For the one that hasn't been destroyed yet, get or make something with two pointed ends that can stick into the holes, and then unscrew it.

corrado33

Wow.

I'd love to see what he does with the special campy crank bolts that require a thin walled socket... (After you finish removing the plastic cap...)

Ex Pres 

Ouch. You will need to get the remnants of the dust cap out of the threads - or you'll have to resort to something like a gear puller to remove the crank. But before that, you'll have to get the crank bolt out in any case.

JMO - I'd find someone to help you out before you make this worse.

3alarmer

... a forty dollar angle grinder is your best bet if you're just going to toss the crank and BB stuff.

You cut off the crank either by grinding a cut through the spindle, or if there's not enough room for access, grinding a couple of cuts into the crank that cut it off the spindle (or allow enough expansion of the square taper socket so it slips off nicely), if there's not enough room.

From there, you still need to get the cups and spindle out (if it's old school), or remove the sealed unit by the usual methods. If you don't feel confident with the grinder, you can usually loosen the stuff with some concentrated heat from a propane or MAPP gas torch.


Power tools are our friends. They want to help you, but be sure to wear safety glasses.

3alarmer

...there's no shame in calling in backup.

Chombi1 

Some coincidence,.....
I recently had to destroy a seized dustcap from my own Montello, from a first gen Chorus crankset on it...... Slotted it with a Dremel and bent up a few quarters, twisting it off with pliers.
Made sure I liberally greased the NOS replacements I installed after that, and easy on the allen head wrench so I did not over-tightened them.
Metal dustcaps are always a 50/50 chance they will be irreversably seized when you try to remove them from a C&V bike that you just bought.....
Manufacturers finally found the light when they decided to delete them from most of their cranks in the 90's.

miamijim

Are they metal or plastic?

Plastic: pry 'em out with small screwdriver or pocket knife. I wedge the screwdriver/knife in along the outside circumference. If you do it right the threads will be unharmed.

Chombi1 

Plastic caps are no big deal. You can even melt them off if you have to, as long as you do not overheat the surrounding aluminum.
The problem is with the metal caps as the threads (usually not of good quality) usually tend to gall and seize. Combine that with moisture and salt that the lower part of the bike gets exposed to.and you have the dustcap version of a stuck seatpost or stem, welded on with corrosion.

davester

I noticed that you didn't mention using a penetrant first. I'd suggest PB Blaster or similar before even attempting this again. Lay the bike on its side so that the penetrant gets into the threads. I also noticed that you haven't mentioned that you have the right tools for this...a thin-walled crank socket and a crank extractor. If you don't know what this means, get yourself over to the Park Tools website and watch some of their guides regarding how to remove a square taper crank. If you don't have those tools it might be better at this point to go to a bike shop and have them remove the cranks for you. Also note that you'll need special tools to disassemble the bottom bracket if that's what you're planning to do.

Lascauxcaveman 

^This^

Every single time. Even if you don't have reason to believe the they are 'badly' stuck.

pandaparry

Thanks for the advice. I do have most of the tools to extract crank and remove bb and done most of this task before, just never had a stuck part that I could not fix with my primitive powers. So no penetrant and too much brute force. Advice I took was to get help before it gets worse. Will see how shop manages, they have a carte blanche as long as the frame comes back in one piece...

big chainring 

1-800-Binford

dddd

When I get to this point with the head of a dust cap, I take a tiny screwdriver and tap the handle with a small hammer as the tip digs into the plastic, then angle the screwdriver while tapping to rotate the cap out. Do this in a few places around the circumference of the plastic until it starts moving, but FIRST follow davester's advice and get a penetrant going to work in there.