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Mark,
As you predicted, press arrived Wed. I immediately popped the cotters out of an old Dunelt.
Very nice work. However, I suggest you should add a warning to those of us used to attempting
removal by C-clamp and bushing (or socket), then heat when that doesn't work!
Warning might read:
"Beware, works so effortlessly, that you may accomplish removal so easily and quickly, that
device may drop and injure toes if you are not careful!"
Thanks, Clyde
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Installation
Installed properly, there should be enough friction between the spindle and bore to eliminate
movement. The cotter will only be loaded in compression, evenly across the face, and be easily
removed.
Without this friction, the only thing resisting movement will be the relatively soft cotter,
loaded in shear. When you see grooves across the cotter face, either the cotter wasn't tight
enough, there was grease between the spindle and the bore or both.
1. Avoid chromed spindles. Sandblasting or sandpaper can help if you don't have a choice.
2. Make sure spindle and spindle bore are clean and dry.
3. Use anti-seize or grease on cotter.
4. Install FIRMLY with a cotter press. As you tighten the cotter, the wrench will move
smoothly and with gradually increasing resistance, till you get to a point where force required to
move the wrench suddenly increases. That's when you stop.
When installing cotters, I suggest holding your wrench with your thumb near the bolt head,
to keep you from applying too much leverage. This tool is so powerful that one fellow mushroomed
the fat end of a cotter.
Years
after tourists had alloy cotterless cranks, most professional racers
were still using cottered cranks. If they were not reliable this would
not have been the case.
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Caveat
With a press, nearly every cotter with a 7mm stem and most with 6mm stems can be removed in one piece.
Unless someone has bent the threaded section, by trying a hammer first.
However, there are a tiny minority where the threaded end will crush without budging the cotter.
I, personally, have only had this happen once.
I believe those have suffered galvanic corrosion (or some such). Your odds of a successful
removal are much better if the cotter was installed properly.
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