Originally Posted by
BigChief
Just for future reference, I'll describe my plan B for this situation. So far, I've never had to go beyond this to be successful, but who knows? I may someday need a plan C but I haven't yet. If I see the threaded end of the cotter start to bend from pressure from the press, I file a small flat on top. Then I center punch the pin by eye. Then, starting with a small drill and working up in size as I go, I drill down into the threaded end of the cotter. The last drill I use is almost the size of the clearance hole around the cotter. I drill down until I'm well below the edge of the crank arm. Now, the drill leaves a nice countersink perfectly in line with the cotter. Then I find the biggest punch I have that fits neatly into the countersink. Then I lower the bike stand until the wheels are on the ground. Then I drill a hole in the end of a 2x4 big enough to clear the cotter. Then I fit the 2x4 so it fits snugly between the cement floor and the crank arm. Since the spindle and crank arm is being supported by the cement floor and the 2x4 and the force of the hammer blows is being directed exactly where it's needed, I have a lot more power on hand then I did with the press pushing against the threaded end.
I got my stuck cotter out last night. Since we talked I driilled it out as far as I could (from the round end) without damaging the crank arm with the drill. I ran a 1/4" all the way through and made a little more progress with a 5/16". After that it was hand-reamer and files. Round mill-bastard was ok. What was really good and seemed to cut faster were files sold for sharpening chain-saw teeth. For $20 I got one of each size. Finally I focus on cutting back the remaining cotter-wall opposite to the spindle slot. When it became thin enough (the remaining cotter material sticking out of the crank arm was paper-thin) I put the non-drive arm back on with the original cotter and pressed it on decently. Then I put the frame on the ground on some wood blocks and stood on both crank arms, and was rewarded by some loosening. Turned the crank over and repeated. When there was about 30 degrees of misalignment I could just pull out the bent and twisted cotter shell with a narrow pliers. Success!
Next: Remove the spindle, bearings and cups, soak and inspect, and clean the BB shell, also headset, frame cleaning and assessment, hub bearings, rim assessment, SKS Blumels fenders. I need to multi-task the work on this frame in parallel, otherwise it'll be three years before I can ride it!
I'd like to use a TA spindle with the original Raleigh cups and install my old TA Pro Vis crankset with a 48 tooth sprocket, but that's probably part of the hot-rodding phase, along with replacing the rims with aluminum. I don't think I want to re-tap the BB shell but I would be willing to cut down the BB shell ends to 68 mm, if it's necessary to make the BB bearings line up correctly.
I haven't seriously dealt with handling the finish. The frame certainly needs a good wash and some Evaporust treatments, but I don't know if I'm going to repaint. The original "livery" is mostly intact, with some nice white trim-lining over the original deep blue. A friend washed her mom's 1954 Schwinn three-speed, and some of the painted white vintage trim (wings painted on the DT) came off on the sponge!
The bike came to me with a carefully installed original Pletscher kickstand which is still intact, but I think I would put on a Sanyo BB dyno. Lights undecided. I have an FG hub (four-speed with dyno), but it's not ready.