Originally Posted by rustystrings61

I spoke too soon. The Centurion isn't coming along without a fight, after all. I foolishly didn't slather the crank/crank spindle interfaces with appropriate stuff, or maybe that wouldn't have mattered anyway. The crank fixing bolts both required use of the 3-foot length of pipe that in past Challenges has been used to support cranks and BBs while using a big honking' hammer to smack out cotters, and most memorably to straighten the head tube on an old Mercier. It worked beautifully for both crank bolts, and I should just turn to it FIRST.

The drive side crank came off, too, but it involved using a rubber mallet on the Park crank tool to start it to turning 'round. All went well, though, and I moved on to the left crank. Sorry b*$+@*& sheered the crank extractor threads right outa the crank. That crank is sho 'nuff seriously welded to the spindle. I thought about it overnight. This morning I pulled the rest of the parts off the bike while I let assorted chemicals do their thing. The brakes and derailleurs and shifters were easy enough, but what surprised me was how the rear brake cable housing had bonded to the top tube tunnels. In the end I wound up soaking the tunnels in Liquid Wrench while I did my morning ride (cut short by the rain), then used Vise Grips to grab the housing, cable and all and pull firmly. The last piece uncoiled the housing and THEN it finally popped free.

Once everything else was off, I studied the crank again. I tried threading in the 23 mm side of the Park tool, but no go. So I sighed and hauled out the ol' hacksaw and went to work. I made good headway, but I've about reached the point where I'll need to use a Dremel and a cutoff wheel to make the rest of the cuts, I think. Here is where we are now -




At least everything else (except the headset and BB!) came off without too much of an epic struggle. I have a Miche 170 left crank that I think will work for this, once I get everything cleaned and ready to reassemble.



It's okay, it's still fun.