Hi everyone! I came across this thread looking for help/advice on a fixed cup I couldn't remove. It's on a 1986 Raleigh Grand Prix (made in Canada). The adjustable cup is regular thread, but the fixed cup is reverse thread or 'English' (clockwise to remove). I tried Sheldon's 'tool' (bolt, washers, nut) but the 'tool' would just slip and wouldn't turn the fixed cup.

I went digging through my collection of random bits of hardware and came across a striker plate that came with a deadbolt I'd recently purchased for a regular house door. Actually, the deadbolt I'd bought came with about 4 striker plates. One of these plates fit just about perfectly on the raised flats that a Park HCW-4 is meant to grab. Here's what I mean by striker plate:
https://www.romark.co.uk/proddisplay....riker%20Plates

What I did was pretty much what HillRider mentioned above, but instead of using the bolt, washers and nut to secure the wrench on the flats, I secured the striker plate on the flats. Then I took a hammer to the striker plate! It took about 3 full turns until it was loose enough to unscrew by hand.

So, if you've got a stuck fixed cup, take the removed adjustable cup with you to a hardware store and find a striker plate that fits over the raised flats (it can be a bit loose) and then affix it like HillRider explains above, but instead of the wrench in there, it's the striker plate.

Hope this helps!

For stubborn "standard" fixed cups, something like this can't be beat, but is probably outside the budget of a home mechanic:


The "professional" version of Sheldon's tool is available as well:

mark, I don't follow your advice. Could you post a picture or more extensive explanation?

I feel weird replying to a thread that Sheldon was on.

My Stein fixed-cup wrench clamp is one of my favourite tools.
https://www.jastein.com/Html/Tools_for_Cranks.htm

noglider... I'll do my best to explain. Basically, look at HillRider's post above:
https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...=1#post3540331
Follow this exactly, except in step #3, replace the word 'wrench' with 'striker plate'.

A striker plate is the thing that screws onto a door frame around the hole in the door frame that the 'latch' (the 'striker') goes into to keep the door shut/locked. Here's a picture of two striker plates (ignore that red arrow!). pic from https://www.hammerzone.com/archives/d...t/break-in.htm




Striker plates come in different sizes, and some are big enough to fit over the raised flats of the cups. Since both the adjustable and fixed cup have the same size raised flats, you can take the easily removable adjustable cup with you to your local hardware store and use it as a guide to find a striker plate that fits over them. If you find one that's a bit loose, it's not a big deal as the bolt, washers and nut hold it on there nice and tight.

So, here's the step-bystep:
1. Go to hardware store with the easily removable adjustable cup. Get a bolt that's as big as your coresponding socket will fit in the cup. Get washers, a few that will fit in the bottom bracket and inside the cup, but get at least one that's big enough to fit over the striker plate, and a nut that fits the bolt.
1a. Find at hardware store (or in the box of random bits you already have) a striker plate that fits over the raised ridges of your cup (if it fits the adjuster cup, it'll fit the fixed cup).
2. At home, put a couple washers on the bolt and feed this through the bottom bracket so it pokes out the fixed cup.
3. On the 'outside,' over the bolt sticking out, put on the striker plate so it fits over the raised flats, and then put on the big washer, another washer and the nut.
4. Finger tighten this contraption.
5. Use your socket (with extension) through the bottom bracket and a wrench on the 'outside' and tighten this as much as you can.
6. Use a hammer to pound at the striker plate. Most likely the fixed cup will be 'reversed thread' (English/British), meaning that loosening is the 'wrong way' - a clock-wise direction.
7. It might take a few rotations with the hammer until you can use your fingers to loosen.
8. Victory!

I've post this method with photos on Flicker that further explains:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/implode...7623240383572/

OK, thanks. I'm not sure I've seen a striker plate that has a slot big enough for some fixed cups, but perhaps I haven't paid attention. It's food for thought!

The deadbolt I bought came with 3 or 4 different sized striker plates. The one that fit the fixed cup was the biggest, and I'm guessing it was meant for an 'industrial' door. In any case, just bring the adjustable cup with you to the store and find one that fits! I'm wondering, too, if some 'faceplates' (like the ones that go over electrical outlet or newer light switches) might work... of course, it'd have to be metal and not plastic!

I'm trying to remove the fixed cup on a Cannondale ST500 from 1986. I am presuming that it is English threaded. I have used a good solid fixed cup wrench on it and have been driven to use a hammer a few times. I've gotten about a 15 degree rotation out of the cup (clockwise) but its not loose. It is also not moving out. Before I whack further, I want to be really sure that I'm going in the right (clockwise) direction. Also, since this is an aluminum frame and the cup is steel, I presume that the cup is threaded into some kind of sleeve and not directly into threaded aluminum. Right? Is it possible that the sleeve is breaking loose?

Help?!?!?

Don't use a hammer. Use a breaker bar.

I don't know about a sleeve in this model. But yes, it should be left-threaded, so clockwise is the right way to turn.

I ended up going with the hammer. Made some marks on the wrench but I DID manage to get the fixed cup off. All is well. I can not believe how much force that took. I work on tandems all the time and rarely have to work that hard to get something loose. On the other hand, this fixed cup was in place for 25 years and had 25000 miles on it.

I will have to investigate adding a breaker bar to the tool set. The hammer just seemed wrong.

Thanks

I hope you didn't damage the threads by exerting force that way.

Funny story about my breaker bar. I went to Home Depot and got a pipe about three feet long. I chose one that had damaged threads, since no one else could use it, and it sure didn't matter to me. The cashier asked me what size it was, since the tag had fallen off. I said I didn't know. She asked if I didn't know, how do I know it's right for me? I explained to her what I was going to do with it. Later, I regretted not telling her I was going to use it as a weapon. Hmm, maybe it's better I didn't.