Originally Posted by
Kimmo
I don't think anybody's mentioned what a nightmare of a time you can have with a hammer and a jammed cotter pin made of cheese, all the best precautions notwithstanding.
The secret is not to tap it, but to strike it hard, once. The cotter pins are not like bolts, they are softer steel so that they deform to the crank flats. Tapping them just bends them. Strike to remove, they fly out and the crank swings down. One of my favourite jobs in the workshop. The pins are often reusable this way, but if not, with new pins less than $1 each, no dramas were had that day.
- joel