Originally Posted by
Six jours
Actually, I suspect the clunking cranks on department store bikes of the 60s and 70s have a lot to do with the bias. It's a shame so many folk have never been able to enjoy properly functioning cottered cranks.
At any rate, the tool is fifty bucks. A 15 mm wrench and crank puller from Park run about thirty bucks total, leaving our man with a $20 budget for replacement cranks. So I'm not buying the cost argument either.
I'm with Hillrider that the tools is too expensive for an a non-shop situation. Fortunately, one can remove and install cotters effectively without spending that much.
Besides using a hammer and dolly, which so many are reluctant to do, a cotter can easily be removed or installed with a bench vise and piece of scrap metal. Improvise or scrounge a spacer able to fit over the protruding end of the pin and taller so the pin is recessed. Remove the nut, and place the crank arm in a vise, with the spacer providing room for the pin to move and crank. Poof the pin is out. Reverse the process to install. Use the $50.00 to take your wife out for the evening.