I documented (or think I documented) that my RoadUno complete had its crank bolts SUPER tight. I extended my long handle 8mm allen with a ~2ft length of PVC pipe. I toe strapped the crank arm to the chainstay and leaned on it. It released with a loud "POP" sound. After that initial "release" it unscrewed as effortlessly as one would expect. The threads were kind of greased but there was no grease under the head of the bolt. I envision they used some impact wrench object to get it tight, and the binding was just friction between the underside of the head of the bolt and the aluminum of the crank arm. That interface should be lubed, and now it is. :)
I have no difficulty imagining that a Clem Complete was built in a similar process. Bill Lindsay El Cerrito, CA On Thursday, September 26, 2024 at 1:47:13 PM UTC-7 Patrick Moore wrote: > To All: What might make the crank bolt seize in the spindle? This > situation is entirely outside of my experience, which goes back to the late > 1960s. > > I've used allen-head crank bolts myself, but only after tightening the > crank arms onto the spindle with hex-head bolts -- in other words, I > installed the allen-head bolts for looks. I can't imagine tightening allen > head crank bolts harder than hex head bolts, and I've never had hex bolts > seize. Even after I forgot to lube them. > > Patrick "beats me" Moore > > > On Thu, Sep 26, 2024 at 2:41 PM Patrick Moore <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Thank you for clarifying the problem. >> >> I have to say: I am flabbergasted; I've never -- again, in decades of >> removing square taper cranks -- had a problem. >> >> I'm sorry if this seems flippant, but I'm serious. Contrary to my earlier >> warning, me, if I were faced with this problem, I'd get a *longer* breaker >> bar. >> >> And, next time, I'd use hex-head bolts to re-attach the crank arm/s to >> the spindle. >> >> On Thu, Sep 26, 2024 at 2:10 PM Dennis Wong <[email protected]> wrote: >> > Hi Patrick, >>> >>> I can't remove this bolt (not my Clem). Sorry for the over-sized photo. >>> >>> >>> On Thursday, September 26, 2024 at 12:43:25 PM UTC-7 Patrick Moore wrote: >>> >>>> Is this the scene: you have removed the crank attachment bolts and you >>>> screw a Park or VAR or Pedros crank removal tool into the threaded >>>> crankarm >>>> and torque it hard to back the arm off the spindle. >>>> >>>> If "yes," HALT: make sure you've removed the crank bolt washers from >>>> the socket before threading in the crank removal tool! (I've failed to do >>>> that and removed the crank arm threading instead.) >>>> >>>> Or, is this the scene: you are trying to remove the crank bolts that >>>> hold the arms to the spindle and despite penetrating oil and a big lever >>>> the bolt/s won't budge? If this is the case, that's very, very weird >>>> unless >>>> you've left the bike outside for years near a large body of salt water. In >>>> decades of removing square taper crank arms from spindles I've never found >>>> one that has seized. >>>> >>>> In any event, I'd be careful when using a breaker bar. >>>> >>>> Please keep us informed. >>>> >>> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/cec44160-f2de-413f-a4cb-bfacc1e59ee9n%40googlegroups.com.
