We always have presses on hand and ready to ship.
Crank Cotter Press
$55
$50 when purchased with a BB tool

S&H $7 in the US
for the press or both tools.
Click here for ordering, payment and shipping info
If you are riding older bikes, with cottered cranks, this tool can be extremely helpful. Cotters installed with a press are much less likely to loosen up than those intalled by just tapping with a hammer and tightening the nut on the cotter threads.

Removing with a press is much less likely to damage your cranks, the cotter or your bearings, than using a hammer. (See Caveat below.)

Presses are machined from oil finished, cold rolled 1018 steel. The stainless steel bolts are 1/2" x 20tpi (vs 7/16" x 20tpi for the discontinued one from Park) so either 3/4" or 19mm wrenches will work on the hex.

You may also be interested in this BB tool for hard to remove BB cups with shallow 5/8" flats, such as found on English 3 speeds.
I also sell a special version that is oversized, for cotters larger than 10mm, such as the rectagular tapered ones sometimes found on antique "Ordinaries".
Mark,
As you predicted, press arrived Wed. I immediately popped the cotters out of an old Dunelt. Very nice work. However, I suggest you should add a warning to those of us used to attempting removal by C-clamp and bushing (or socket), then heat when that doesn't work!

Warning might read:
"Beware, works so effortlessly, that you may accomplish removal so easily and quickly, that device may drop and injure toes if you are not careful!"

Thanks, Clyde
Installation
Installed properly, there should be enough friction between the spindle and bore to eliminate movement. The cotter will only be loaded in compression, evenly across the face, and be easily removed.

Without this friction, the only thing resisting movement will be the relatively soft cotter, loaded in shear. When you see grooves across the cotter face, either the cotter wasn't tight enough, there was grease between the spindle and the bore or both.

1. Avoid chromed spindles. Sandblasting or sandpaper can help if you don't have a choice.

2. Make sure spindle and spindle bore are clean and dry.

3. Use anti-seize or grease on cotter.

4. Install FIRMLY with a cotter press. As you tighten the cotter, the wrench will move smoothly and with gradually increasing resistance, till you get to a point where force required to move the wrench suddenly increases. That's when you stop.

When installing cotters, I suggest holding your wrench with your thumb near the bolt head, to keep you from applying too much leverage. This tool is so powerful that one fellow mushroomed the fat end of a cotter.

Years after tourists had alloy cotterless cranks, many racers were still using the more reliable (when installed properly) cottered cranks.

 Caveat
With a press, nearly every cotter, (98-99%) can be removed in one piece. Unless someone has bent the threaded section, by trying a hammer first.

However, there are a tiny minority where the threaded end will crush without budging the cotter. I, personally, have only had this happen once.

I believe those have suffered galvanic corrosion (or some such). Your odds of a successful removal are much better if the cotter was installed properly.

Crank Cotters
4 grades available
$1.00 to $3.00 Each
Cotters ship free with Cotter Press
or Fixed Cup Tool.
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