So i had a thread a bit ago about my seized diabolus crankbolt, and how i was struggling to shift it. Well after another 3 or 4 tries, utilising your suggestions (torque driver) its still buggered on there and check out what its done to my 8mm allen key, twisted the thing! thats how much sodding force was going through it!



So yea im pretty damn peeved at this as now the crankbolt 8mm slot is rounded off making my attempts to loosen it useless.

Id tried everything, just the allen key, used a huge pole as a lever, hit it with a biiiig mallet, torque driver and id ran out of ideas! grrrr but now its fecked for good and its really shite to ride as the bearings are shot at and the cranks hardly spin! i cant understand how its gotten this bad though, it had new bearings in january and it was coveredwith grease when it was put on.

Now unless any of you have any plans im gonna have to either drill it out or cut the arms off! and i dont have any cash at all to spend on new cranks!

Thoughts?

I'd have my doubts about one of those working here. If the bolt is so stuck that its bending a good quality allen key then I doubt an e-z-out will do it. Sadly.

Try to heat the bolt up, then hit it with a wooden mallet or similar then it might undo!

Worth a try, if not drill it out or cut the head of the bolt off with an angle grinder

it was me that had to cut Steeeev's Diablous cranks off his Mtn Cycle, pics were on here a year or two back

Diablous are b*stard cranks to fit and remove, especially when the mounting hardware becomes mangled

I would personally cut them off using a hacksaw through the non-driveside crank spacers, and get some Shimano SLX cranks which are just coming into stock, and should be less than £100 including the HT2 bottom bracket

i would use cutting them off as a last resort , if your not too fussed about the finish on the cranks , get a blow torch on them and try to expand the area around splines.
joe

Have you tried soaking it in oil then hammering in a torx key? Might aswell try it before you go cutting it off or heating it.

I ended up buying a set of Raceface a few months back just becuase I couldnt get hold of a set of saints within the time I wanted. I really regret it, they just arent on par with the saints fitting wise. I struggle to get the crank bolt off regularly. I've never had that problem though!

cool could also try this cheers.

ill try the blowtorch if i can get hold of one, but im fearing the worst lol