Bicycle Mechanics - crank puller

Is there any way to get a crank off without a crankpuller?:twitchy::notamused:

Not without risk of injury or damage.

You can remove the bolt that holds the crank to the BB spindel. Then get a "pickle fork", ball joint separator, put it between the crank arm and he frame and hit repeatedly with a hammer. You will probable end up damaging the crank arm or the frame, but it works. easier way is to just get a crank puller. Not an expensive tool.

A Park crank puller is $15. I'm sure there are some knock offs that are cheaper but I recommend Quality tools like Park or Pedros. Good Tools are always worth the money

Is there any way to get a crank off without a crankpuller?:twitchy::notamused:

Yes, but it'll be much more expensive or time consuming to do it without the $10 appropriate crank puller. Buy it or borrow it. This is not one tool you want to home hackjob an equivalent to.

+1 on buying one. Mine was £3,5 and lasted 6 yrs so far, I use it a lot. I also used a ball joint puller (not the type you hit as decribed by kycycler but still not a good solution, especially if you like your cranks..

Not without risk of injury or damage.

I'm fairly sure you could do both ;)

^+1 - There are ways to remove without a tool but those methods will probably be destructive to the crank, bearings or frame.

Here's one for $7 http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/14589-325_SETCP5-2-Accessories-42-Tools/Sette-Torx-ST-215CB-Cotterless-Crank-Puller.htm

You can't go wrong with a Park Tool crank puller, but the above is fine for the weekend mechanic.

This question comes up at least once every couple of weeks. The short answer is no, there is no good way to remove crank arms without the proper puller. There are a lot of alternative methods but all are damaging to the crank, the bike, the rider or all three.

I'm quite fond of the Park Tool CWP-7 crank-puller, which works on two different types of cranks: Square-taper and ISIS or Octalink. The CWP-7 has replaced the CWP-6 recently. The difference between the 6 and 7 is the 7 has thicker heads than does the 6. So it's built a bit stronger for years of use - either for the home-mechanic as well as use at a bike-shop that sees a higher volume of applications.

Here it is:

http://www.parktool.com/products/detail.asp?cat=26&item=CWP-7

It's worth the $15 or so.

I used to remove crank arms with a hammer before I got my crankarm puller (its a great tool, and I haven't looked back since I got it). Had to do a lot of that at Wal*Mart when I was fixing bikes before I was able to make the 3 hour drive to my then LBS to buy the tool. If you must use a hammer, I would recommend a rubber mallet, because that is least likely to leave marks. I hear rumors that a lead hammer also works good if you've got to wail away on metal parts and don't want to leave marks, but you are more likely to come across a rubber mallet. And in using a hammer, I always had the bike on my work bench, held on to the frame good and tight bracing for each impact, and hammered the crank arm away from me so that it went flying safelyISH into the middle of nowhere.

But using a hammer for that job does increase the risk of damaging parts (and possible injury). So, it would probably be a good investment to get a crank puller. Seriously, it is a wonderful and fun tool to use, and makes screwing around with cranks a blast. (Although a rubber mallet is good to have in general for when you need to hammer against the metal on your bike or something, since it doesn't dent/damage it in the same way a metal hammer does)

I have a ballpean-hammer with four different plastic-heads that screw onto the face of it. They go from soft, rubbery plastic to very high density. So you have the right one for whatever job you're tackling. And I have a synthetic-rubber 2-pound mallet with a soft-face and a medium-face on either side. These are available at SEARS.

But I in no way endorse using this to attempt to remove cranks. If you think $15 is a lot of money - just wait until you see the bill for fixing the damage you're likely to cause by using a hammer for this purpose. Enough.

Not much that hasn't already been said on this topic, but I'll just add my +1. Buy the crank puller. It'll save you both money and trouble compared to trying to do it other ways.

I didn't get a crank puller today because they didn't have one:notamused: at my favorite LBS. But tomorrow I will bite the bullet and go in search of one. I just thought maybe since I really new to this that I was missing something. Thanks for the replies everybody.:thumb:

I didn't get a crank puller today because they didn't have one:notamused: at my favorite LBS. But tomorrow I will bite the bullet and go in search of one.
Try here: http://www.biketoolsetc.com/index.cgi?id=92531081272&d=single&c=Tools&sc=Crank&tc=Extractors&item_id=PA-CWP7

The shipping cost will probably be less than the cost of driving all over town looking for one.

Blargh! The LBS probably would have pulled the cranks for free if you'd had your bike with you. Only takes a second. Then you'd have been done.

Blargh! The LBS probably would have pulled the cranks for free if you'd had your bike with you. Only takes a second. Then you'd have been done.
Sure, until the next time you need it and you would have learned nothing. Get the right tool and learn to use it.

Blargh! The LBS probably would have pulled the cranks for free if you'd had your bike with you. Only takes a second. Then you'd have been done.

Assuming they would do it. Or they'd happily do it for a standard service charge (1 hr min). Or if they would do it free, they wouldn't do it free for very long.

Better to have the tool for something like this (or the freewheel, too).

The LBS's inability to provide a retail puller may have helped her case.
Plus, the OP is a turtle-woman. They're endangered, you know. I'd have bet the LBS would have pro-bonoed it right then.
Learning how to use a crank-puller is sure fun, but I'd rather be in the saddle.

That is a good point I would rather be in the saddle that taking apart a bike. If you own a home and cars with all their is to do, do you learn how to pull a crank, that you may have to do only once every 6 years? Chances are if you were taught how to do it right originally, you will forget some of the fine points when you have to do it again. That said I decided to learn how and bought all the Park tools (specific to my bike) to do it. I think it was a good choice, on the other hand the honey do list getting longer is not making my wife happy. But I am enjoying riding more.

That is a good point I would rather be in the saddle that taking apart a bike. If you own a home and cars with all their is to do, do you learn how to pull a crank, that you may have to do only once every 6 years?
DIY bike maintence is really much more time-efficient than having some one else do it, even if cost is no object.

Our present example; crank removal. It takes me maybe five minutes to clamp the bike into the repair stand, remove the crank bolts, thread in the puller and have the arms off.

How much of your time would it take to load the bike ito the car, drive to the LBS, wait for them to do it and then drive home? Or, have to go back a second time since the LBS wouldn't do it while you wait?

I do my own auto oil changes for the same reason. I can drain the old oil, change the filter and refill the engine in less than 20 minutes and part of that time is just waiting for the old oil to drain thoroughly. How much time would it take if I drove to the dealer/garage/oil change place, waited for the car to be serviced and then drove home?

Having your own tools saves time as well as money.

DIY bike maintence is really much more time-efficient than having some one else do it, even if cost is no object.

Our present example; crank removal. It takes me maybe five minutes to clamp the bike into the repair stand, remove the crank bolts, thread in the puller and have the arms off.

How much of your time would it take to load the bike ito the car, drive to the LBS, wait for them to do it and then drive home? Or, have to go back a second time since the LBS wouldn't do it while you wait?

I do my own auto oil changes for the same reason. I can drain the old oil, change the filter and refill the engine in less than 20 minutes and part of that time is just waiting for the old oil to drain thoroughly. How much time would it take if I drove to the dealer/garage/oil change place, waited for the car to be serviced and then drove home?

Having your own tools saves time as well as money.


Exactly, people wonder why I do my own oil changes on my brand new car, firstly it is cheaper but besides that I can do it in 20 min on a sunday morning and go out riding instead of dicking around for 2 hours at the dealer.

Not without injury or damage.

Fixed it for you.

No way this can end well

Fixed it for you.

No way this can end well

D'oh! What was I thinking!