– I am attempting to replace the bottom bracket on an old bike
– The crank bolts took a breaker bar to get out
– My park tool “nipple” fit inside the square crank opening, but barely. In photo two, you can see where it got stuck inside the square after an earlier attempt.
– Per my inspection, the nipple was meeting the spindle, not the crank (no pinch marks on the aluminum).
With the above in mind I did wd40 overnight, some heat and the breaker bars. After some Brute Strength, I thought I had it, but it was the weld shearing in the tool. $20 down the drain.
by dec10
6 Comments
Parktool is life warrantied. Ask for a replacement
never broke one before but i sure bent one when i forgot to first take the crank bolt out. still works, and don’t deal with square taper much so i don’t really care to replace until it fails me
You bought a park one.
I’ve been using the same Campagnolo one for over 20 years. The flats are a bit rounded out but I believe that’s because I used a Park pedal wrench on it.
I’m not sure the Campagnolo one is still available but Cyclus do very high quality tools.
Highly doubtful it was user error. Park Tool makes great tools, but even the best tools can fail. The fact that Park Tool warranties their stuff is because they even know that imperfections can make their way to the consumer.
What is fascinating is that the tool broke before the crank arm stripped. But that’s just me being in awe of how unusual your outcome was. Been in this business for 25+ years and still have not come close to seeing it all.
Anyway, contact Park and try again later.
If you can, try out the CWP-7.. it allows you to use a beefier wrench with your breaker bar.
Whatever you do, keep note of avoiding stripping the crank arm threads
Good luck 👍
I always just use impacts for this kind of thing. The impacting seems to get it broken loose easier.
It’s kind of like if you’re holding something and someone is pulling it away from you with constant force versus repeated yanking it away from you.
You can buy a crank puller that doesn’t have a built in handle. You can use an adjustable wrench which will give you more leverage and won’t shear off.
Unfortunately if the cranks are seized on good and proper you’re likely to strip the threads before it gives way.
Good luck.