Bicycle Mechanics - Problem removing Ultegra crank

I attempted to remove my cranks today, in an attempt to cure a slight clicking under high load. The bike is an '03 Klein Q-Carbon Team that I got on Ebay with Ultegra bits. When I tried to remove the crank bolt, the retaining cap came out, but the crank didn't. (It's a self-extracting type crank.) The threads on the retaining cap looked definitely stripped, and there were aluminum shavings present. The threads on the crank itself look good (thankfully).

So, is there anywhere I can purchase just the retaining cap? No luck so far looking on teh internets

Haha, that happened to me too. Just try e bay or other places for crank "Dust Caps" http://cgi.ebay.com/Shimano-Dura-Ace-Crank-dust-caps-NEW-7400-7401-7402_W0QQitemZ300104183812QQihZ020QQcategoryZ56195QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
I always start out on e bay and work from there, hehe

You can use a regular crank puller once the retaining cap is off. You will need either a specific crank puller (Park's CCP-4) for the hollow bb spindle or an insert plug to give a conventional puller something to work against. Shimano provides a plug (TL-FC15) with every 105 Octalink crank since they don't have auto-extracting bolts. Your LBS may have a few of these lying around as surplus.

I've also heard you can use a nickel or a washer to provide the same function but I've never tried it.

Thanks for the tips. I'm going to check my bike shop for caps, and buy the tool if they don't have any caps.

Yeah, its sucks becaues it can give you a scare that you ruined your crank threading, when in fact it was actually the dust cap that stripped. It taught me to ALWAYS use the real tool just in case it actually does strip the cranks, you wont kick yourself later for being lazy and not using the tool.

I've never understood the attraction of self extracting cranks. While they work fine most of the time, I'm aware of all-too-many cases like yours. Since pulling a crank is normally a shop job anyway, what's the big attraction of not using a tool that works all of the time?

Self extractor rings are available through QBP so any LBS should be able to get you a pair. 10mm crank bolts with a black seal to fill the space and eliminate the extractor rings are also available for about the same price. That's what I'd get.

I've never understood the attraction of self extracting cranks. While they work fine most of the time, I'm aware of all-too-many cases like yours. Since pulling a crank is normally a shop job anyway, what's the big attraction of not using a tool that works all of the time?
I think the "secret" to making the self-extractors reasonably reliable is to grease the inside of the ring and the bolt head when they are assembled. But, as you said, there is little justification for them in general.


10mm crank bolts with a black seal to fill the space and eliminate the extractor rings are also available for about the same price. That's what I'd get.
10 mm allan heads? All the Shimano crank bolts I've seen are 8 mm but I ran into a guy with a loose crank (FSA, IIRC) and my 8 mm hex wrench was too small so I assume it was 10 mm. Who else uses 10 mm?

I've never understood the attraction of self extracting cranks. While they work fine most of the time, I'm aware of all-too-many cases like yours. Since pulling a crank is normally a shop job anyway, what's the big attraction of not using a tool that works all of the time?
Yet how many posts have we replied to where the (non-self extracting) puller threads stripped out? I've stopped counting. At least with self-extracting, the chances of the wrench mis-installing the tool are much smaller.

10 mm allan heads?

Oops. I should have said M15 and it does require an 8mm hex wrench. Sorry