Random Tandem

Admittedly, this is a bit of a desperate request, but I have recently come into possession of a 1977 Peugeot PRN-10E frame with a Stronglight 49D crankset and I cannot find anyone in Vancouver who has the removal tool (the regular 22mm nor the TA 23mm tools both do not work). Can you help? PM me!

-Will

Random Tandem

I tried all of the local co-ops and a few suggested LBCs, but it seems that none are available. I expect to be in Bellingham and Seattle next month, and I will expand my search in that direction. Any leads are gratefully accepted.

-Will

Schweinhund

You need to search the forums first. one just sold today?
https://www.bikeforums.net/classic-v...rank-extr.html

C9H13N 

Recycled Cycles in Seattle has a Stronglight remover if you make it down this far.

Mr. 66

Bellingham has The Hub, Kyle may have one for you. I have one in Seattle if you need to go that far.

Random Tandem

I spoke with someone at Hub in B'ham in the morning of the day when I came upon this Peugeot in Ferndale on my ride home (yes, there is more to say that I will wait to add in a future post). The person at Hub offered to give me all of the French bicycles that are donated to Hub because he does not want to deal with "frenchiness" in most cases (I was looking for an all metal Simplex FD for another of my Pugs (I am really embarrassed to have more than one after eschewing French bikes since my experience as an adolescent with a Peugeot U-08)). I am still hoping to find one closer than Seattle, but hopium does not get the cranks off!

-Will

dddd

I've used the TA-sized Park (2-way) puller to remove several of the old stronglight cranks, with success.

The trick is to tighten up the puller to a bit less tightness than is normally required to pull a crankarm, and then apply big torque through the spindle by jumping on the pedals so as to help the twisting spindle end to wriggle out of it's press-fit into the crankarm.
The puller is re-tightened after each round of jumping on the pedals.

By the way, I've used the same technique to get cranks tighter onto a spindle having threaded studs and nuts, as the nut tightens further using less torque after the cranks have put some back-and-forth twisting torque through the spindle end. The crankarms get pressed on fully without danger of the threads cracking off of the threaded studs, a common problem since 1) the "nutted" spindle is not made of the grade of material that a good bolt is, and 2) because the threads are coarser (meaning less press-fit force for any given amount of torque applied to the nut versus a finer-threaded bolt).

I always do three jumps on the pedals between tightenings of the crank puller driver bolt (or spindle nut). I reverse the cranks 180-degrees between jumps to reverse the torque, creating additional (double) creeping movement along the press-fit surfaces.

I have yet to strip out an old Stronglight crank using this method, and the cranks usually come right off after the third round of re-tightening the tool.

One more thing that this method works really well at is removing the occasional "really stuck on" crankarm, without perhaps breaking the handle off the tool, and without damaging any threads.

Oh, and I weigh only 140lbs. This method still works for me.

This is also the method to use if the crankarm's puller threads are compromised by heavy corrosion or by, say, having an insufficiently screwed-in puller pull out half of the original threads. In the worst such cases, heat can be applied to the arm to further loosen the press-fit.

Random Tandem

You might be more brave than me, but I have also read that Stronglight was not always consistent in their puller sockets. I have a TA crank remover that I tried threading in, and it was very loose, so I am going to try other options for now.

I am still looking for a 23.35mm Stronglight crank removal tool in Vancouver, BC, and I suppose if I am not successful, I will buy one that I can loan to others here (so if you are reading this as research to find a tool, PM me and I will let you know what I did), but I have not given up yet! PM me with leads on anyone in Vancouver, Canada who has this tool.

Thanks,

-Will

Random Tandem

The cranks are off! Thanks to a generous Vancouverite, who used his Stronglight 23.35mm crank remover tool to pull them off. No issues! If you are stuck in Vancouver looking for a solution, let me know and I will check to see if I can connect you.

Thanks for all the leads and suggestions.

-Will

unworthy1

a slight hijack: FWIW I have been tapped 2X to use my own tool to help out a local with a Stronglight crank, both times I met the bike and owner on the road (actually off the road) when I was driving nearby and we could coordinate.
I have been tempted to mail my tool to let a C&Ver in need use it themself but had to reconsider that: I need this tool and cannot afford to "lose" it or have it break in someone elses' hands. If I break this it's my own damn fault (or luck), so those are my conditions.
However I have cause to travel to SoCal pretty much every year (once or more) and will make a drive to Portland next year perhaps in March, so...

Random Tandem

Thank you for your addition to this post. It would be great to have a resource for people looking for these somewhat unusual tools to find them for the few times when they are needed. Of course, they are still produced by J.A. Stein (US$45) and in Poland (check ebay), and according to my local sources both work well. But I suppose no one wants to have an item they value be damaged by someone else - that's why I never let anyone ride my Teledyne Titan. (I know it might break, but it will be my heart that breaks if someone else were to be riding it!)

Really pleased with how great our C&V bike community works to all pursue our dreams (and overly crowded basements, and attics, and garages, and crawl-spaces, and....)

-Will

Schlafen

I have the old Park CCP-1 but also this 2in1 TA/Stronglight puller:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/152740762...Bk9SR67TqdmeYQ