Removing FSA SLK cranks.

[rockdude]

I know I have removed my FSA SLK cranks before but I can't make it happen this time. I have removed the dust cap and the crank bolt but I can't get the not drive side crank arm to slide off. I have hit it will a rubber hammer, pulled on it and and mess with it most of the day. Am I forgetting something? Am i doing something wrong? Am I not being rough enough? Is there a tick I should know? Any suggestion?

Thanks,
John..

[junior2189]

use a crank are puller. it will tread right in there. but ues the bigger one the one for isis. it sould work.
JUNIOR

[shanerpvt]

are the fsa's one of the one's that you un-tread the crank bolt with the dust cover on.............???? I know Race Face cranks are like that?

[rockdude]

I started to use my larger Crankarm puller but it didn't seem to thread into the hole. The puller size seemed larger than the hole. I will give it another shot.

[junior2189]

it works on the alloy ones and the truvativ.
JUNIOR

[Spicoli]

Its late and I dont feel like looking for a punch line in this, but the dust cap is your crank puller. Put it back on with some loctite and it pulls the arm off for you.

[rockdude]

Well, I now know that both of my crank puller don't work, they are to big and don't tread into the crank arms.

I will try putting my crank bolt and dust cover back in and then backing out the bolt using the dust cover as a self extractor. I played with this a little earlier today but I don't really put the strong arm on it.

[rustychisel]

What spicoli said; it's not the dust cap.

There is a caveat, FSA made the capture bolt outta cheese which merely resembles alloy, (I stripped one out last month). Having removed it already you should be okay, oh, that and the fact that FSA then issued steel bolts to replace all the ***** ones. If you have the steel one, fine. If alloy, I give you 50/50

[Too Tall]

Put a gob of grease on the bolt head so that it rotates under the dust cap rather than catches it and strips the threads out :( Agree with prev. comment, if those are allow bolts they were not intended for installing cranks.

[rockdude]

Yesterday, I put the dust cap back on and the crank bolt back in. Once both were in place, I begin to unscrew the bolt. When the dust cap and the bolt came in contact it became hard to turn. I kept working it thinking the arm would break lose soon. Well, I got it to a point where I could not move the bolt in or out. I wish I would have read about the grease before I started. If my tools were larger I would keep working but I guess it is time to take it to the LBS.

[Acotts]

I think this thread is kinda ironic becuase my FSA cranks literally just fell off my bike on Saturday. I have ridden them about 300 miles. About 20 miles from home (almost the exact place I blew my tire out 2 weeks ago and had to do the ol' dolla bill trick.) my cranks got loose and as I tried to unclip to assess the situation, I jut pulled the arm right off.

Even before this event, I thought that compared to Shimano Cranks (DA and ultegra) the FSA's seem under engineered. The folks at the bike shop told me to stick with them, and eventually they will settle in. But boy do they seem a lot more likely to come apart when put next to the shimano stuff.

[rockdude]

I know the last time I serviced them, 5000 miles ago, they pulled apart by hand.

[Spicoli]

Just turn the bolt back in, take the cap off and grease it all. Then re-install the cap and remove the arm? This should not be that tough, the bolt should tighten back in as long as u did not cross thread it, which if it went in smooth the first time and you are now just tightening it again all should be well with it. So to break it down again,

1-turn bolt back in (tighten it again)
2-remove cap
3 insure the washer is in correctly. you should have a silver washer between the cap and bolt. if you dont that may be your problem. (assuming all parts are there?)
4-grease it up
5-re-assemble
6-remove crank by turn the bolt out (unscrew) which makes contact with the washer/cap and spins freely now that it is greased properly and TA DAH! crank arm comes off nicely.

Then never touch a tool again ;)

May the force be with you :beer:

PS you dont even have to take off the bolt, just the cap and washer to do do this. grease them, put it back together and your good to go.

[rockdude]

Lucky day for me. I tried it again with all I had and she came right off.. Thanks for all the help...