HighTreason
Retro Newbie
Basically I have a cotter pin stuck and want suggestions on how to get it out, you can disregard the majority of everything else in this post, I just want to rant.
I recently took my bike into the shop as I thought the bearing were failing in the crank - the crank is the only thing I can't touch, I can work on the gear hub and everything else but I always mess cranks up - as it turned out they were fine and the metallic gunge could have been anything (The bike is probably around 80 years old now) so the crank was re-assembled and the existing cotters were re-used as the shop did not have any that would fit.
I had some cotters spare that would fit, I had used two in there earlier and I had three left. I removed the old one no problem (Using a hammer and a length of wood to support the arm) and picked up one of the new ones, I hammered it in but it jammed halfway and would not move. I managed to get this one out and found the metal was stripped on one edge - the axle is fine though.
I grabbed another pin and lined everything up again, I smashed it in as hard as I could and it got stuck halfway, I tried hammering it back out and it shifted by about half a centimeter and would not move further, I tried hammering it back in a little and it would no longer do that. I then heated the metal (ruining the paint somewhat) but it still won't hammer out, I then tried drilling a thin hole into the cotter pin with my strongest metal drill bits, but it will not go into the metal at all. Finally I tried hitting it again, but nothing happened. I should add that I have been feeding it penetrating oil constantly to ease it off, but no luck. Does anybody have any ideas? I don't want to replace the crank and I doubt I could find another chainwheel to fit (This is on the chainwheel side too which makes things very difficult).
I recently took my bike into the shop as I thought the bearing were failing in the crank - the crank is the only thing I can't touch, I can work on the gear hub and everything else but I always mess cranks up - as it turned out they were fine and the metallic gunge could have been anything (The bike is probably around 80 years old now) so the crank was re-assembled and the existing cotters were re-used as the shop did not have any that would fit.
I had some cotters spare that would fit, I had used two in there earlier and I had three left. I removed the old one no problem (Using a hammer and a length of wood to support the arm) and picked up one of the new ones, I hammered it in but it jammed halfway and would not move. I managed to get this one out and found the metal was stripped on one edge - the axle is fine though.
I grabbed another pin and lined everything up again, I smashed it in as hard as I could and it got stuck halfway, I tried hammering it back out and it shifted by about half a centimeter and would not move further, I tried hammering it back in a little and it would no longer do that. I then heated the metal (ruining the paint somewhat) but it still won't hammer out, I then tried drilling a thin hole into the cotter pin with my strongest metal drill bits, but it will not go into the metal at all. Finally I tried hitting it again, but nothing happened. I should add that I have been feeding it penetrating oil constantly to ease it off, but no luck. Does anybody have any ideas? I don't want to replace the crank and I doubt I could find another chainwheel to fit (This is on the chainwheel side too which makes things very difficult).