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Froggy88

Froggy88

New Member
Apr 5, 2004
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Hi, the pedal-crank came off of my wife's Raleigh LTD-3 bicycle. We retraced her route and we only found the nut, but not the bolt-that goes through the hole and into the nut. We have tried our own bolts and they just don't fit. And the pedal-crank is now a tiny bit loose - not real loose but not real tight.
There is a notch where the old bolt went on the crank axle. I could machine a part if I had a good specification - like put clay in the axle part - ie. mold something but it would be a lot of work to make the mold and then machine a part in a machine shop. Lots of work!

And I realize I could try an entirely new crank assembly with both cranks and the front sprocket from some other bike (assuming they fit), but if only we had that screw she would be ready to ride again.

Any idea where I can find such a screw by mail-order? It's a fairly common bike and they sell for a lot of money on craig's list.

I guess it would be a shame to not ride the bike for sake of one little bolt.

Any suggestions appreciated.

Thanks.
Froggy88
 
Were are you?

No location in your details on the left. :confused:

You need a Cotter Pin. :)

I must have 10 of them in the back yard. ;)
 
I'm in Quincy, MA, USA. Let me get this right, so instead of the original bolt/nut combination, you want to put in a cotter pin instead, or are you calling the original parts, cotter pins. Sorry, I'm a little not up on the terminology. I think of a cotter pin as being a flimsy bendable thing that holds something loosely, not tightly. We found the nut that had fallen off - it had been on a screw-like thing. I have an old junk bike in the basement but I have so far been unable to get the bolt off of it - it's stuck and it is probably not the same width - in fact, I know that it's not a high enough gauge part. The bikes seem to be very, very particular as to the wheel-crank and the crank is threaded. I find it hard to believe that the part came off to begin with. Perhaps it's wear on the inside of the crank arm that caused some wobble side-to-side. Usually a good bike part will juse rust itself on for good.

Thanks for you ideas, your help is appreciated. Please let me know if you would like pictures - I can get my camera out and give you good shots of the actual crank. I'll order from you if/when I think it will work. I like mail-order over driving in the car.

Thanks, Froggy88


gclark8 said:
Were are you?

No location in your details on the left. :confused:

You need a Cotter Pin. :)

I must have 10 of them in the back yard. ;)
Click to expand...
 
Froggy88 said:
Thanks for you ideas, your help is appreciated. Please let me know if you would like pictures - I can get my camera out and give you good shots of the actual crank. I'll order from you if/when I think it will work. I like mail-order over driving in the car.
Click to expand...
Let me echo Pete here: go to a local bike shop, and they will probably fix this in less than 5 minutes. Don't know why you want to go to the trouble of machining, mail order, etc. all for one screw.
 
Hi Guys, thank you all for your comments. It turns out that gclark8 is right - it's called a "cotter pin". Sorry, it sounded strange to me. Anyway, it's a commonly-available part - I need the 9.5mm size in that part for the Raleigh LTD 3 bicycle. It's heavier in guage than the ones on my old junk bike I sometimes use for parts. It's already in the mail and cost me $2.00 + shipping, $8.00 in all. Thanks again.

Regards, Froggy88

TheDarkLord said:
Let me echo Pete here: go to a local bike shop, and they will probably fix this in less than 5 minutes. Don't know why you want to go to the trouble of machining, mail order, etc. all for one screw.
Click to expand...
 
I suggest you get a book to tell you how to work on those if you are determined to do it yourself. There are one or two pitfalls.

Plus bear in mind that a modern sealed bottom bracket and spindle are probably compatible with your frame, though the new crankset wouldn't match the rest of the chrome.
 
Froggy88 said:
I'm in Quincy, MA, USA. Let me get this right, so instead of the original bolt/nut combination, you want to put in a cotter pin instead, or are you calling the original parts, cotter pins. Sorry, I'm a little not up on the terminology. I think of a cotter pin as being a flimsy bendable thing that holds something loosely, not tightly. We found the nut that had fallen off - it had been on a screw-like thing. I have an old junk bike in the basement but I have so far been unable to get the bolt off of it - it's stuck and it is probably not the same width - in fact, I know that it's not a high enough gauge part. The bikes seem to be very, very particular as to the wheel-crank and the crank is threaded. I find it hard to believe that the part came off to begin with. Perhaps it's wear on the inside of the crank arm that caused some wobble side-to-side. Usually a good bike part will juse rust itself on for good.

Thanks for you ideas, your help is appreciated. Please let me know if you would like pictures - I can get my camera out and give you good shots of the actual crank. I'll order from you if/when I think it will work. I like mail-order over driving in the car.


Thanks, Froggy88
Click to expand...

I googled bike shops in Quincy MA and got 10 names...
 
To get a stuck cotter pin out you need to apply back torque. Stand on the pedals, then without rotating them, hop off and tap out the cotter on the crank arm facing to the rear. There are flats on the crank which have worn notches into the cotter pin.

This method will not work with a coaster brake bike because there are notches on both sides of the pin.
 
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