Neal,
That's a good idea. I would have had to put the rest of the bike back together, at least partially to do that, but next time I'll try the cotters first, before I take it apart.

I took the cotters out of my 73 Grand Prix the other day, and they almost fell out after I took the bolts off. Maybe they'd been off before...

Machine,
I used a big old clamp. Not exactly sure of the size, but I'm guessing the long side of the C part of the clamp is around 10-12 inches.

hmm, frame for a brake lever...I'll have to think about that one