bikemig 

I've managed to survive with park puller and use the side designed for TA cranks but I know that's just asking for trouble. So it's time to get a stronglight crank puller since I'm building up a Peugeot PR 10.

Ex Pres 

Bought mine straight from the JAStein website. cheaper than the same tool elsewhere.

rhm

I bought one of these:

2in1 Stronglight Specialites T.A. removal remover crankset Arm Puller Tool NEW | eBay

and it's pretty cool.

bikemig 

Thanks, looks like I'm buying a new one. The double sided one (TA and stronglight) from Poland looks interesting!

9volt 

Thanks for the link. Heads up to OP only 1 left right now

rhm

I bought the last one a couple months ago! He's making more, I'm sure.

francophile 

I saw those double pullers and was intruiged but I already have a proper puller from JA Stein and two TA pullers so it didn't make much sense.

Going with the double Stronglight/TA puller is definitely more cost effective. But if you were in the market for an excellent puller, JA Stein actually has listings up most of the time now for his pullers on eBay: jastein on eBay

He started listing a month or two ago for $35/ea. Those sold out lightning fast and he re-listed a few auctions at $38. He's now got them at $38/obo with free shipping, I'm guessing he'd probably take $33-35 for them if you offered.

noobinsf 

I have one of these double-sided ones from Poland, and I have to ask the others on the thread -- did you have success with the Stronglight side? I've only used mine once, and I had trouble threading mine into my Stronglight 93. Not wanting to strip the crank threads by forcing it, I used the other side, which threaded in easily -- clearly the TA side, with the 0.35mm smaller diameter -- and pulled the cranks that way. Should I have braved it with the Stronglight side, even though it was giving me resistance?

bikemig 

The TA side can work on Stronglight cranks. I've used a TA puller for a long time on Stronglight cranks but it's a bad idea. They are different and sooner or later bad luck will catch up with you. That's why I'm finally getting a proper Stronglight puller. I didn't realize JA stein was still making pullers but that's the one I'm going to get.

noobinsf 

I guess what I'm getting at is -- is my experience with resistance on the Stronglight side a common thing, or is it a sign of the quality of the workmanship on the Polish tool? Admittedly, I'm kind of a weenie when it comes to wrenching, and that may be a factor in my backing off of the Stronglight side, but I think some degree of weenie-ness is warranted with vintage French crank threads. Just curious to know if others had luck with the Polish tool.

bikemig 

I wouldn't force a tool in. You need to rely on a sense of feel to ensure that the tool is going in right. My guess is that there is a problem with the tool but getting the seller to warranty the tool may be difficult.

Iowegian

My experience is that some Stronglight crankset tools are tough to thread in. I've had the best luck with a Stronglight branded tool but I have a JAStein tool now that I use and it is sometimes hard to thread in. If the 23.00 TA tool fits without any 'slop' I'd go ahead and use that, as long as it doesn't take too much force to remove the crank from the BB spindle.

I also find all tolerances on older bikes are wider than the newer stuff so it pays to have a bunch of tools to find the one that fits just right. That and having a sense of how much is too much, whether it is the force required to thread in the tool or the force required to break the crank arm free from the spindle helps too.

Charles Wahl

I measured the TA (TA) and Stronglight (Stein) pullers I have yesterday, as it happens, and the OD of the TA was 22.7 mm, while the Stronglight was 23.3 mm. I was wondering if the latter wasn't a bit big to fit 23.35 mm threads. Now I'll have to get out some cranks and check that, especially since I plan on building a bike soon with vintage Stronglight cranks.

jcb3

+1 on the Polish Stronglight puller. I have one and it works well.

rhm

I have heard of a lot of variance in the threads on Stronglight cranks. There are threads on this forum where people have found Stronglight cranks that fit the TA puller but not the Stronglight one; and even one where an older Stronglight crank fit a standard 22 mm puller. I can't explain any of this.

I can tell you I used to have a couple Stronglight 93 cranks and a TA puller and I used the TA puller countless times to remove my Stronglight cranks, and it worked fine. Until one day it didn't; the puller started to pull the threads out, not the crank. I stopped before the damage was too catastrophic, and after that damage was done, a proper Stronglight tool still worked.

So, to answer you question as clearly as possible: no idea, but I have used the Polish tool once or twice, on a Stronglight 49d crank; I have not yet used it on a TA crank.