How to remove crown race

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Hi, I have quite a bit of bike maintenance and building experience, but I wanted some advice on replacing the headset on my mountainbike. Aside from either buying Park's crown race puller or taking the bike to a shop that has one, what is the best way to get the crown race off of my fork?

Thanks,

Filhor

I wish I could help. Sounds like you have more experience than I do :)

Filhor

Is the crown race the cups your head set bearings run in???

Big H

The crown race is the race that is pressed onto the headtube/fork, the lowermost race of the headset. Since it is pressed onto the headtube, it doesn't come off easily, and it is important to keep the area that the next crown race will be pressed onto in good condition.

Anyone?

Just use a center punch (biggest possible) and a hammer and slowly tap it all around until it comes loose.

That is the way many shops do it worldwide. No need to buy an expensive tool.

Follow Xavier's advice. Use patience and perserverence.

I use a utility knife blade and a mallet to first get the race off the crown/set area by working around the race a few times, tapping the blade furthur in towards the steer tube each time. It sounds a little odd, but will not damage the race or the seat as a punch most likely will. As the race comes off that seat a bit, I next use essentially a putty-knife multi tool I've had in my toolbox for years, as it's got a wedge-shaped edge on it. This gets the race up about 1/8" so that a screwdriver or other pry-device can be used safely. I really try to pull the race up EVENLY, so as to not bend it or scrape up the steer tube or crown.

The center punch method worked well for me when I worked on my BMX bikes back in the 1980's. There was always plenty of surface area on the bottom side of the race visible and available for whacking. However, I recently needed to get the race off a skareb elite shock. There wasn't any surface area to hit at all. glenzx's advice, to use the utility knife blade, did the trick. I was surprised how easily the race came off. I simply held the blade between two fingers, and tapped the back side gently with a hammer. I did not drive it in all the way first, but rather worked around the circumference twice before getting it all the way in. (When I did get it in a little deeper, I used pliers to pry it loose, just to be safe). Like glenzx, I also then moved up to a thicker putty-knife multi-tool (the kind you can also use to clean a paint roller) with a tapered edge. After that, the race just slid off easily. No prying with a screwdriver needed. The job was quick--it took me less time than it took me to write this post.