3-Piece Crank Removal
 

I have an old JC Higgins bike I am trying to rebuild and I cannot remove the crank. The arms have a bolt going through them and when I remove the nut, they still wont budge.

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4036/...ce898b01_b.jpg

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4058/...0717f970_b.jpg

I did a search and could not find any info on this style crank. Please let me know if I need a puller of some sort.

Thanks in advance.

These are cottered cranks. Read here.

Thanks for the link. I followed the instructions and managed to get it all apart, bearings cleaned up and re-greased, and I re-chromed the crank. I lightly sanded and re-used the cotters in the exact same orientation as before, taking care to install them opposite from each other so the crank arms are 180 deg apart. I am now having trouble getting the sprocket far enough away from the frame to allow the chain to be installed without hitting the frame. Considering all parts are the same as before with the exception of the slightly sanded cotters, would it be possible they are causing my clearance issues? I am not sure how else to attack this as the bottom bracket has very little side to side adjustment as well.

Thanks again.

Don't blame the cotters. One possibility is that the axle isn't symmetric, and that you've put it in the wrong way. Another is that the cotter flats on the axle are wide enough for some adjustability and you didn't get them back in quite the same position.
Or maybe you've switched to another size/number of bearings?
What I have done in similar situations is:
1) dig deep in my parts bins. There can easily be some difference between axles and bb cups. Some combos will work where others won't.
2) Cut down the BB shell a little

What I haven't tried so far is widening the cotter flats on the axle, but apart from irrepairably altering a part I can't see anything mechanically "wrong" with it. A cotter that's gripping well enough to deal with pedalling push should be ample to deal with the sideways loads.

You are right the axle is not symmetric and has one longer end where the sprocket mounts. I have that oriented correctly. However now that you mentioned it, I do remember pulling out the ball bearings and noticing that one side had 1 less than the other. I added the extra bearing in good faith but that is probably where the extra space is taken up. Ill try taking one out on the side opposite of the sprocket and tighten everything up to see how much extra I gain.

+1, I suspect you flipped the axle over.. and the left side is longer now by the same amount the right side is short.

Were there a little bit of adjustable cup threads left exposed, after tightening the lock-ring down,
that thickness of a spacer could go under the fixed cup on the other side..