Originally Posted by JRZRacing
thanks, but I am usually able to find a way to take things apart without the proper tools, for example I have taken off freewheels,and taken apart and put back together chains. And as I usually do, I have just found a way to take apart the crank on one of the bikes with one hit of a hammer, the other one is not as easy, but I'm sure I'll fugure it out too.
Um... sorry to say this, but that's just nuts! The proper tool costs about $8 and it'll take about 30 seconds to remove any square-taper crank with it.
By using a hammer, you risk bending the frame, crank, bottom bracket spindle, or bottom bracket shell, due to the extremely high force you'll need to separate the crank from the spindle. Furthermore, a hammer blow will result in a sudden very high lateral load on the bottom bracket bearings, which could cause other problems.
I believe your original question asked how to do this without scratching the bike? If you want to do it right, do it with the right tool
PS- I'm quite impressed that you managed to remove a freewheel without a freewheel tool. That's quite a feat, actually. Did either the freewheel or the hub survive the ordeal?