Hi,

Hoping someone can help.

I am struggling to fit a set of 2011 RF Deus cranks. The torque required to even attempt to tighten them up to a ‘dead stop’ has resulted in the alloy crank bolt stripping out on the chromoly spindle. This has now happened twice, as I sent the first cranks back to CRC as my lbs reckoned the first set had tolerance issues as they could not tighten them up sufficently. This is now doubtful as I have the same issue with the replacement set.

I have had numerous RF cranksets all of which had steel crank bolts and I have never had an issue fitting any of them, I know they do take a ‘bit of welly’ to tighten up to a dead stop but, to me, this is nigh on impossible with the alloy bolt. All the correct spacers are used etc.

Anyhow any experiences, tips etc. appreciated.

Thanks,

Andy

I assume you have the right number of spacers on so that it is going all the way to the end of the splines? Other than “grease everything up”, I’m not sure what I can add.

I’e just fitted my first set of RaceFace cranks (on a Fatbike) and I was surprised at how much torque it was taking to get that crank along those splines. However, it all went on (eventually) and subsequent removal and re-fitting has been fine.

You could try taking all spacers off and doing it all the way to the end, then removing and re-fitting correctly?

Is it possible that the material in the bolt is getting too hot and is therefore distorting? If so, perhaps doing half a turn, waiting, then another half turn might help?