Bikedued

I know some of us have modern bikes as well, and don't always have the proprietary tools to work on that one bike. I found a way to pull an Octalink crankset that is a lot cheaper than buying the special tool that you might only use 2-3 times. I was trying to tear my mountain bike down for a trade with a member here, and my Octalink tool had gone missing. What I found, is that the head of a 3/8's bolt(thread size, not head size), fits almost exactly into the splines of an Octalink crank pocket, and almost perfectly inside a square taper Park tool crank puller. Slip the bolt into the hole on the spindle threads first and then thread the outer part of the puller into the crank arm. It should center the head of the bolt onto the end of the spindle. It pushed the crank off like it was made for it. It's probably not worth it if you do this repair frequently,
but in a pinch it works quite well.,,,,BD

gaucho777 

Thanks for the tip. I try to avoid Octalink BBs and their ilk, but I've come across a couple and needed to make a run the to co-op to borrow a tool. I'll keep this in mind next time.

RobbieTunes

I'll call you if it gets "embedded!"
When I bought my crank puller, and picked up the Octalink adapter, LBS said "buy two."
He said it was the most often misplaced tool he'd ever had. He was right. I have one left.
I painted it red so I would not lose it.