a.bandini

Hi all, I know this has likely been covered in the past here, but I haven't been able to find any live links with info on this.

I'm having trouble removing these crank arms. I have a 7mm allen key which fits the bolt, and I can get some slight movement counter-clockwise, then nothing.
Maybe a 1/2 turn, then it becomes very difficult and I don't want to damage anything by pushing further.

I imagine the 2 tiny spanner bolts outside the main 7mm bolt come into play here? I don't have a spanner quite small enough to fish in there- is there a particular campy one that is used for this? And if so, is there a good alternate way to get at them? Any suggestions would be appreciated!

gearbasher

I never liked the self extractors on the C-Record. I removed mine (using a Campy tool made for the two little holes). They have reverse threads. I also had to buy a reverse threaded Campy puller to remove the crank arms, Those are difficult (expensive) to find today. I then used the crank bolts that you find on the 10 speed cranks.

Here's an image of the self extractor (removed) and the tool. (from VeloBase.com)

billytwosheds 

As long as the extracting rings are still in place (you didn't make progress removing them?), those self-extracting crank bolts actually work well.

Keep rotating the 7mm bolt counter clockwise past the initial point of resistance and the crank will...pull off the axle.

What are you working on, exactly?

a.bandini

Thanks for the responses!

I'm trying to pull these cranks off an old 3rensho frame to have a look at the bottom bracket.
The bolts are the ones gearbasher provided a photo of- go figure there is a specialty Campy spanner tool for this job.

I didn't test it much past where I met resistance, so it sounds like the thing to do is to keep going a bit further and see if it gives, without worrying about those little spanner bolts? I'm definitely treating this gingerly since this is the nicest bike I've ever wrenched on.

Gearbasher, do you suppose I may have luck trying what billytwosheds recommended, and (hopefully) avoid having to source any specialty tools for this?

gearbasher

I have pulled them using just the 7 mm Allen. I never damaged anything, but I cringed every time I did it. By every time, I mean maybe 2 or 3 times. Then I just got rid of the self extractors.

Campy made a tool to hold the 7 mm allen, so you can put a 15 mm box end on it to turn out the crank bolt. I've often seen them combined with Campy's "peanut butter" wrench. I never used one.
.

a.bandini

Thanks for the good advice!
Got them off this afternoon (with minimal cringing), actually kind of a cool system- I've never removed a crank arm without using a crank puller.
Suppose the idea was to make this easier and quicker in a race situation. In any case, glad there wasn't any complications.