stronglight crank puller help
 

My local bike shop sold me an original stronglight crank puller but it is missing the inner bolt that pushes the crank arm off. At the hardware the 10mm bolts were too small and the 12mm bolts seemed to large. The 12mm goes in a turn or so and stops. Maybe the wrong thread pitch? I tried course, fine, and extra fine thread in the 12 mm with no luck.

Does anyone have an original stronglight puller (23.3mm version) that can stick a caliper on the inner bolt and tell me what size it is and what thread pitch if possible? Hopefully this is something I can find available locally if I can figure out what size it is.

Thanks1

I have one and will try to remember to measure it for you at my next opportunity, which will not be until Monday. If you don't have an answer before then, please bump this thread on Monday evening to remind me.

I cant recall if this is a 'Stronglight' branded puller, but it it is 23.3 for the old Stronglight crank arms. I hope this is of some help.

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...CA81828C52.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...561363244F.jpg

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/f...0ABF3BF418.jpg

My Stronglight puller has M12x1 threading, which would be extra-fine threading for such diameter.

OK, thank you everyone. I think maybe the threads are a little mashed. Maybe I should try to force the 12mm extra fine bolt in there and it will straighten out the threads? That was my initial instinct when trying the different bolts, but I thought I should make sure before forcing it in there.

I wouldn't force the bolt. Always a chance of stripping the crank threads.

pontius -

a metric thread gauge is something no bicycle workshop should be without. a person has got to know what they are working with...

quite inexpensive too. ;)

Sears.com

Yeah, I should check it with a gauge first.

Trotsky, the bolt I'm talking about threads into the tool, not the crank. I would run the risk of ruining the tool, though, or have to try tapping new threads or something.

lettuce hope the tool available to you from the lbs was not so because of damaged threads.

Where are you located? I live in north coastal San Diego County and have a standing offer to lend my Stronglight puller and a few other specialty tools.

If you do force a 12 x 1 bolt into the tool to chase the threads out, grind a groove or flute (or two) through the threads so there's a bit of a cutting edge (probably rather dull, but better than nothing) and space for removed material to accumulate. And use plenty of oil (the flutes will serve as an oil reservoir as well).

Mine fits on a park tool CCP-1, if you can find one of those...

OOOH, good call on that.

I didn't even think to check that when I went down to the shop to use my thread guage, though I'll mention that Park definitely changed the threading when their pullers got revised (with thicker handles and with the TA spigot eliminated) many years back.

what a great tip.

you just helped many folks! :thumb:

never would have occurred to my solid concrete "braine"...

I have two pullers that will fit Stronglight cranks. I only need one, these days...

http://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpe...k_Puller_1.jpg

But that's a 23mm puller. The stronglight is 23.3mm or thereabouts. Won't the park tool strip off the top of the threads? Or are you saying the bolt from the park tool fits in the stronglight extractor?

I checked the stronglight extractor with a pitch gauge and it is indeed a 1.00 pitch. This is quite hard to find in a 12mm bolt. Extra fine is common but is 1.25 pitch. 1.00 is considered super fine and the only source I could find online was in the UK.

Look closely at both threaded puller diameters - one is 23mm and the other 23.3mm. And, yes, the bolts are different in each.

General weirdness. If you don't mind my asking, why buy a tool with a lost part? Why did the shop even charge you for it? Why not save your self a lot of hair pulling and invest in one of these????

Stronglight Extractor

edit: …I should never type first thing, before the coffee takes hold and general fog lifts. ;)

Because I was there and the guy rummaged through some drawers and found 80% of the tool. He told me he would come across the bolt and keep it for me if I came by in a few days. For $8.00 kit seems like a reasonable thing to do. I have a lot more time than money.

If that is a park ccp-1, I read some other threads on that tool and everyone is saying it is 22mm and 23mm. Can you put a caliper on it to check?

Yeah, good on him, and you. My post was a little cranky. Apologies. I hope a 12 mm X 1 fits.

You are correct, they are both 23.mm, which explains something that happened years ago. I did strip a Stronglight crank, drive side, of course, but at least I learned how to "fudge" removal without screwing up the crank any worse.

When observed under a stronglight, this whole thread is cranky.

While some people report success using a 23mm puller on 23.35mm Stronglight arms, this practice may fail, leaving the arm permanently stripped. As Surtherlands (4th Edition) warns:

http://www.os2.dhs.org/~john/park-warning.jpg
Source: Sutherland's 4th Edition

I just tried my tools here. Neither the threaded handle from a double-headed Park CCP-1 nor from a modern CCP-2 will thread into the outer portion of my Stronglight puller.

Mine was purchased from an older mechanic, so why it works? I'm not sure. Maybe park tool sold the combo together at some time. The set-up looks like Randy's.

HA! very clever. :thumb:

you may want to get a hard bolt or the tip will get messed up with use. metric bolts have a number on the head that indicates hardness. 10.9 is a nice hardness for tools and common in finer pitch threads. cylinder heads in engines often use oddball bolts, may pay off asking your local mechanic if he has some laying around (they get changed sometimes)

Yes, this jibes with my measurements on both the early (two-ended) Park tool and their later version with the thicker handle and with finer threads.

Both versions have 9/16" SAE-threaded driver, so can't fit the 12mmx1 Stronglight puller threading.

The thread pitch is 18TPI for the early Park puller and 24TPI for the later one.

A VAR 22/2 puller I have here uses a 12mm driver, but is has 1.25mm thread pitch.

What I found most interesting has to do with the VAR tool's listed "23.35mm" spigot threading, which I measure to a major diameter of only 23.01mm.
Compare that to the early Park tool's actual 21.89mm and there is 0.12mm difference, while the genuine Stronglight tool has a major diameter of only 23.13mm.

What I experienced in the distant past was that the early, 2-ended Park tool successfully pulled several Stronglight 93 cranksets from their spindles without stripping.

While my experience surely must fall somewhat to ignorant good luck, another, better approach is to use the early park tool, but with the handle only tightened to a modest, say half, fraction of the normal amount of tightening needed to free a crankarm.
If the "rider" then stands on the pedals and "hops" (with the tool still providing it's pulling force), then reverses the cranks 180-degrees and repeats this perhaps 4-5 times, the Park tool handle can then be tightened a bit more, and the hopping process repeated, again reversing the load 4-5 times.
Note that I am by no means heavy myself, so this should not require "violent" (or in any way destructive) levels of hopping force!
After several rounds of hopping and re-tightening of the tool's handle, the stuck crankarm will release with far, far less tension needed from the tool, this because the square end of the spindle twists slightly under load, with the surface friction retention eventually giving way to the twisting motions of the hopping (and simultaneous force of the puller's tension).
I've used this same technique on "impossibly"-stuck crankarms where the tool risked breakage (or where the tool handle actually broke off), and have never failed to remove such a stuck crankset with a more-modest level of force needed from the puller.

Out of curiosity, I also just now tried threading my "23.35mm" VAR 22/2 tool into an old TA crankarm, and even though the threaded spigot measures just 23.01mm, it would not thread into the TA crankarm, even though the only slightly-smaller Park tool easily does.

That would be clever on the part of that mechanic, using the park driver with integral handle for convenience in use (or to restore damaged threading).

The Stronglight puller would have only had to be drilled and tapped to a common 9/16x18tpi ("9/16 NF") for the early Park handle to fit.

This might be the best answer for the OP (pontius) if a Park tool is perhaps already at hand, AND if the OP has some machining experience (plus the drill press, drill bit, cutting fluid/oil, goggles and tap handle that will also be needed).

But I would prefer using the stronger, finer-threaded (24tpi) handle/driver from one of the later Park tools if I could also find a 9/16x24tpi ("9/16 NEF") tap without too much searching or expense. See below:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/9-16-24-NEF-...item2c9c1f25e5