Leonard Diamond wrote:
> While a teen, I worked in a local shop and cotter pins were the norm except
> for Schwinn's and the higher end jobs with cotterless cranks. For quite a
> while the shop did not have a press so we removed and installed with a
> hammer. Support the crank or bb axle with a piece of wood with a v notch to
> protect the bearings/cups. When installing we would tighten the nut as we
> hammered the head so as not to shear it. The shop owner was good at custom
> filing a pin when we couldn't get one of the different sized/tapered pins to
> fit correctly. It's not rocket science.
The first shop I worked for did a lot of cottered cranks as well. Eventually we splurged and bought the right tools:
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/
Both the press and the vise, and they do make working with cotters much easier.
--
John Thompson (john@os2.dhs.org)
Appleton WI USA