I finally understood the old guy's trick with the cotter pin press

A few winters back, a customer brought in a 1970s Raleigh with a seized crank, and the usual hammer and punch method just mushroomed the pin. I remembered a retired mechanic from a shop in Eugene once mentioned using a bench vise with a specific socket as a makeshift press. It worked perfectly on the first try, with no damage to the crank arm. What's one old-school tool trick that saved your bacon on a job?

2 comments

2 Comments

olivia_morgan87d ago

Try that same vise trick with a long bolt and some nuts to make a portable puller for stubborn freewheel removals.

jakelee7d ago

Gotta ask if a freewheel is ever really that stuck though. I've used a big wrench and a cheater bar on the worst ones, never needed a whole homemade puller. Seems like making a tool for a problem that barely exists, you know?