ToniH. 

Hi,

would someone know a source for a tool that would work on older french crank bolts. I know that the parktool ccw-2 would work but seems I’m out of luck sourcing it second hand or anything similar.

thanks!
toni

Roger M

I was facing the same issue about a year ago. I have a surplus of old and cheap sockets, so I just took one of them to a grinder. Works great.

Some folks will tell you to buy the proper thin wall socket or wrench, but I needed it now, and it costs zero.

merziac

The only solution IMO.

Or you can wait, spend, etc. for no good reason.

John E

I still have the 5/8" socket I ground down 40 years ago, when I had a TA Professional crankset with the OEM 16mm bolts. I no longer need it, because I have plenty of 15mm bolts, but it has always served me well.

Bianchigirll 

Where do you live? There might be someone a few miles away willing to pop them out for you. Have you tried your local bike shop?

BTW I hope you not going to put them back in.

OH right what brand cranks are these? Are you going to need a 22.5 or 23 puller rather than the "standard" 22

ToniH. 

I’m sure there would be someone who could do it but I like to work on my bikes myself.


they are specialites ta cranks. I have the right puller for them.

I propably will replace them with stronglight cranks and 15mm bolts.

Bianchigirll 

ToniH. Then head over to Do It Best to get a 16mm socket and start grinding on it

Murray Missile 

Thin Wall 16mm socket

bulgie 

Are you sure your bolts are 16 mm? That's not normal for a TA, they used 15.

​​​​​Re: Roger M 's solution, I'd try to start with a shorter socket. The extra length of that socket works against you, it puts a bending load in addition to the pure twist you want. The very flat wrenches, like a Campy peanutbutter (and clones thereof) are the epitome of that. TA made one too, in 15 mm, and Zeus made theirs in 16 mm, rare now unforutnately. What they all share is close to zero stickout past the crank, which means close to pure twisting, almost no bending.

I don't mean you're actually going to bend the bolt, no worries there, it's just trying to lever the socket off the hex head of the bolt. You can counteract that with your hands (obviously, Roger's socket does work). It's just a little easier with a shorter socket, as short as possible really. I think Roger's is a spark plug wrench, that deep because it needs to be, for a spark plug.

I now have two bench grinders and a big ol' belt grinder, lots of ways to thin a socket. But back when I had few tools, the first thing I bought was a small hand-held belt sander. I used that probably a couple times per day on average, so useful. I clamped the handle in the vise to make it stationary so I could use both hands to hold the work. Flattening the cut ends of cable housing, making a bolt head smaller, removing the rounded end of an allen wrench to make it like new again, reducing the diameter of a shaft by spinning it in a drill while holding it against the belt sander, the list goes on and on. Strongly recommend buying one! Oh I guess it relies on having a decent bench vise for a lot of that functionality, so first I would buy or build a bench, then get a vise, hacksaw and hammer, maybe a few other things before getting a belt sander. But it would be fairly high on the list. Here's a cheap example, about $50,




...though I sprung for a better one from Ridgid and it has lasted 15 years or more. When the platen wore out, they had the replacement part, and it's back to like new. Cheaper ones are an acceptable compromise though if you're strapped and/or won't use it much.

Belt sander is not the perfect tool for thinning a socket wrench but it would work well, and the sander has so many other uses. More versatile than a bench grinder IMHO.

Mark B

albrt 

I've always been able to find a socket with thin enough walls without having to grind it down - you just have to try a few. If you have a pawn shop or other second hand emporium that sells loose tools, you can look for a thin-walled socket and probably get one for a buck or less. 16 mm sockets are somewhat rare when you're looking through a bin of old sockets because 5/8" is very close - I've seen them labeled as both.

merziac

albrt 

I saw that, but I figured ToniH was probably talking about specialty wrenches, not cheap loose sockets that happen to have thin walls.

The first time I encountered one of these I spent half a day going around to bike shops looking for the specialty wrench. Turned out I had a socket that would fit in the cheap socket set in my car trunk.

wesmamyke

I used to have a set of three Park peanut butter style crank bolt wrenches. At one point long ago they made 14, 15 and 16mm sizes. Not sure I would be able to recall the part numbers for any sort of ebay search.

gugie 

@tonih,

Ferget the socket, we want pics of your Herse, Singer, and Routens!

bulgie 

My name is Mark and I'm a toolaholic.



Top to bottom, it's

• Var, Stronglight, Artisan Tool & Die, and Zeus, all 16 mm
• TA and Campy, 15 mm
• Unknown French 14 mm
• Park ratcheting 14/15, nice tool, I use it a lot.

Not shown, 3/8" drive ratchet with various brands of sockets, but all high quality, like vintage Craftsman, Proto, Snap-On, all thin enough to work without grinding.
I used to use the 3/8" sockets as my go-to, but then I decided I like the convenience of the Park double-ratchet. Still use the 3/8" for 16 mm though. Peanut-butter wrenches work fine, but I like ratchets for the ease of positioning, for max leverage and ergonomics.

I left the price tag on the ATD wrench because it's funny, it says $3.50 or $3.59. Ah those were the days. Of course that was an hour's wages for me back then...
I like the "drillium" in the Zeus. Think how much faster you can jockey that wrench, with its reduced moment of inertia!

Mark, uh, no last names here in Toolaholics Anonymous.

robobike316 

My standard Craftsman 16mm 3/8 socket fits fine in my old French Stronglight arms.

ToniH. 

I will have to at same point! Now they are more or less in pieces…

ToniH. 

I wondered that myself but my 15mm butter knife wont fit it. The bike is originally from 50’s so I asume that they replaced the cranks but not the bolts at some point..

merziac

Well Roger had the correct fix in post #2 IMO.

If one has a bench grinder as any responsible hack should have, you can put a socket on an extension and spin it on the grinder wheel very easily.

With a light touch, the wheel will spin the socket for a very nice, fairly even material removal with out weakening the socket much if any at all for this purpose.

redshift1

Some modern motorcycles use a thin wall 16 mm spark plug socket due to restricted room e.g.

https://www.mxstore.com.au/p/Bikeser...CABEgLVFfD_BwE

JohnDThompson 

Are you certain that they are 16mm bolts? Stronglight and Zeus were the only cranks to use 16mm bolts, and many people would replace them with 15mm bolts to use standard tools. It doesn't make sense that someone would replace TA stock 15mm bolts with non-standard 16mm bolts.

Hondo6

You probably already know this. But I haven't seen it mentioned on this thread yet, so I'll mention it just in case.

I've read in what are considered highly reliable sources (e.g., the late Sheldon Brown's website and others) that older (pre-1982) Stronglight cranks require a different crank puller than either TA or the common 22mm threading. If I recall correctly, those older Stronglights use 23.35mm threading.

Might be worth checking before installing the Stronglight crank.

brewerkz 

worth a try, thin wall socket

https://www.ebay.com/itm/30392930563...3ABFBMjM_Riq1h

ToniH. 

You are correct. I happen to have pullers for both cranks and they are available from ebay. Still good that all this info is on the same place

Hondo6

OK, good. Simply thought it best to mention it just in case.

Best of luck with the swap, and enjoy the ride afterwards.