I know a regular socket wrench is supposed to work, but I only have a short-handled set, and it's getting me no leverage. Anyone recommend their favorite crank wrench for unscrewing those pesky bolts?

(For use with your average aluminum cranks' 14mm hex-shaped bolt.)

Find a piece of pipe to slide over the handle of the rachet. Or the box end of a large wrench can be used to apply more leverage on the handle. But pulling the bolts is only the first step to removal of the cranks. You will still need a crank puller.

Yeah, I've heard the 'find a piece of pipe' suggestion over and over. I live in a tiny apt. in Brooklyn. I already have too many pieces of bike crap lying all over the place. I don't want to go searching for a 'piece of pipe' to throw into another corner of my compromised space. I just want to get a reliable tool, not a random piece of pipe to add to the clutter. I don't have the luxury of a garage or basement full of space to throw occasionally-useful crap into.

And I know I need a crank puller. But crank pullers are easy to figure out.

I just want a good, reliable tool for the bolts.

This is just such a no brainer.Get a longer handled wench.

I would've thought that a single purpose crank bolt wrench would be a lot less occasionally-useful than a multipurpose pipe extension (cheap solution) or just a bigger socket wrench (expensive solution). I use a socket wrench of adequate size myself.

Don't you ever get tired of throwing in those extra denigrations into your post, sydney? If it's such a no-brainer, then why bother using yours for the task of insulting a person?

One tool is going to cost a lot less than a new socket set with a longer wrench handle. Besides, since I don't own an automobile or many other mechanical devices that use them, I really don't have much use for an entire socket wrench set.

Juicemouse, in answer to your post--what exactly am I going to use a piece of pipe for in the future? A tool can be put in my tidy little toolbox and tucked away. A piece of pipe is just going to slide about. Besides that, the handle on this particular socket set is about 5 inches long, and narrow. It's my friend's. I don't even know if it is long enough for the pipe to work.

Besides all of this, it seems to me that going and buying a piece of pipe and then carrying it home represents about as much work as just ordering the proper tool for the job.

This is just such a no brainer. You don't have to buy a whole set you can just buy the ratheting handle or maybe better and cheaper just a bar with the proper size bit on it for your sockets.

Use it for smoking carpet and bashing bugs.

Okay, well, thanks. As I have no experience with buying tools (this set belongs to my friend), I didn't know that one could buy just the handle. I'll go find it. Is it really going to be any cheaper than a parktool or something, though? I mean, the parktool crank wrench is only about ten bucks...

Guess I should have just labeled this post, 'how to devise a DIY crank wrench.'

Sydney, FYI, I hate carpet. Only hardwood floors in this place.

You could be missing the point, Senor Peripatetic.

You will need TWO tools: a crank wrench (usually 8mm) to remove the crank bolts:
https://www.parktool.com/tools/HR_8BIG.shtml

and a crank puller, used to get the crank off the bb tapers
https://www.parktool.com/tools/CCP_2BIG.shtml

The "longer tool" thing refers to the crank wrench to pull the overly snug crank bolts....

HTH.

As an example, this single purpose wrench (https://tinyurl.com/7afq2) costs $8 at Performance without shipping. This multipurpose wrench (https://tinyurl.com/cgtnc) is the same one I use, and costs $23 at Sears with shipping. Is that "a lot less"? I don't know. I guess it depends on what your wrenching needs are.



I might not use a pipe on a 5" wrench (especially a borrowed one) for this task either. However, a piece of pipe can be considered a tool just like your screwdriver and wrench, and kept along side them in your toolbox. It is useful for combining with smaller than adequate wrenches (which are apparently what you're working with) for removing/installing fasteners which require more torque. There are plenty of these on a bicycle.

I like the Park ratcheting wrench - it has 14 and 15 mm sockets, and is long enough to provide plenty of leverage. It's also strudy enough to stand up to a cheater bar if you really need to get tough.

https://www.biketoolsetc.com/index.cg...tem_id=PA-CCW4

Neil, Juicemouse et al, thanks for the input. I literally have nothing at home to use a ratchet wrench on other than my bike, so yes, a 23-dollar wrench set is a lot more than a 10-dollar one in this case.

And I'm well aware that I'll also need a crank pulling tool, also.

Juicemouse, what kind/size of pipe are you talking about? I saw some over at the auto shop the other day, but they seemed over-large and heavy for the purposes at hand. Are you talking copper pipe for plumbing or something similar? If it's small enough to fit in a toolbox, then I don't mind...

And before you go thinking I just need to go down to the local Home Depot or something similar, realize that I'm living in NYC, where the nbhd hardware store is tiny and mainly filled with roach-killing poisons and lots of sets of screws, and the Home Depot in Manhattan is filled with overpriced fluff for wealthy UES homeowners to spice up their places.

Not copper, what you really want is titanium. No, just kidding. Steel, man. Bring the wrench with the biggest handle you normally use to the hardware store and make sure whatever pipe diameter you get fits over the handle of that wrench. You don't need more than a foot of it to be able to get a whole lot of leverage.

Buy a new cheapo fork to replace that bent one, and use the bent fork for leverage by slipping the steerer over your hex key handle. I actually use an old fork that I never managed to throw out for this kind of thing all the time!

Oh, and before you buy a puller: I *know* they've got one at TimesUp! - I've stopped in to use it before

em, so ur in a cheap ass apartment and uve bike pieces. so find a piece of the bike which resembles a piece of pipe, i.e the fork steerer tube, and yank on it hehe.

Going out on a limb here: UES . . . Upper East Side??

Neil
far, far from Manhattan....

Oh, uh, sorry. Neil, good guess, right on the money. New Yawkers can be so provincial, can't we? That fork idea is a good one. I was just lamenting the fact that this whole fixed gear crapola is nothing better than a bunch of salvage parts...

OT, but somehow related, any of youse know where I can find a cheapo chromoly or steer fork for a relatively inexpensive price?

The guy selling Titan frames on Ebay has full-chrome Tange forks in his ebay store for $20. You'll have to get it cut down and threaded (unless you'e going threadless) but I'd bet you can get that done even in NYC for $20 or so; with shipping, I think you'd come out under 50.

Edit: Here:
https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...category=56196

There very well might be cheaper options - but not bad for NOS.

As a wrench who has been wrenching for many years, I will tell you this. I have several lengths of pipe in various diameters in my bike shop. Sometimes a couple of extra inches is needed. Sure they are cheap, but they work well. And for that particularily stubborn bolt or BB, the Park frame straightening handle and a 20" Crescent wrench is an unbeatable combo. Don't knock a tool just because it is cheap. Any solution should be judged by it's success, not by how much it cost.

If you've got the sockets, why not just use a breaker bar. Craftsman calls it a "flex handle." Cost about 11-12 dollars. You can apply a lot of torque with them and even beat on them, if need be.

You really shouldn't use a cheater bar on a rachet as it can damage it. Get the breaker bar as they can stand up to that kind of punishment.

Here's a link:
https://www.sears.com/sr/javasr/produ...id=00944363000

As far as a cheater bar, I use old handlebars I have layin' around. Cromoly and aluminum. Both seem to work really well(if you have them). Good to stick on the end of a 8mm Allen wrench, anyway. Good luck, man.

Basically, a tool is anything you can use as a tool. I agree with the others, a piece of pipe is a piece of pipe, or it is a cheater bar. If it would make you feel better I have seen online stores sell fancy painted pipe with a logo and call it a torque enhancer. If you go to pretty much any hardware store you can get a 2 foot piece of black gas pipe for a couple bucks. Paint it a fancy color & keep it forever.

Here is your best bet, something like this:
https://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=37391

You won't need a piece of pipe with that, but you will likely need an adapter to go from 1/2 to 3/8. Great to have when stuff is stuck, just be careful how you pull on it or you can strip stuff out. Make sure the force stays in a rotary direction by bracing the end you aren't pulling on with your other hand.

Good luck,

Jester

lol i agree

Put the wrench in, hold the head with your hand, and strike the end of a wrench with a mallet...