Removing a Pitlock skewer. Without the key.

[alicej]

A friend has a bike with a security skewer in the front wheel which looks like it may be a Pitlock one. The bike was bought ages ago secondhand and didn't come with the special key for the skewer, which we only realised we needed when we tried to take the wheel off to change the inner tube at the weekend. Obviously we don't have the code either, without which you can't buy replacement keys.

If he gets a p***ture he'll have to patch the tube without taking the wheel off, and if it's too bad to be patched or if the tyre fails or something then the bike will become unusable if we can't take the wheel out.

What's the best way to get the wheel off to replace the skewer - I assume we're going to have to drill through the skewer where it goes through the dropout? Any chance we'll damage the fork while doing that, or anything else I haven't thought of?

Just checking before I make an expensive mess...

[[XAP]Bob]

Spot weld something to the skewer?

Use a set of mole grips?

Contact the seller.

[alicej]

Spot weld something to the skewer?

Use a set of mole grips?

Contact the seller.

Thank you, some things I hadnt thought of! I don't have any means of welding though, and mole grips won't grip because the bit that needs to turn is so smooth and curved. There are no flat sides on it at all so nowhere to get a grip.

It's a very secure design and I'd highly recommend them to anyone with expensive wheels who can be absolutely sure they'll never lose the key or the code!

The bike was bought from a market stall over a year ago, the stall no longer exists, and I suspect that if the retailer had received the key when they got it from the original owner then they'd probably have taped it to the frame or something to avoid losing it before the bike was sold on. So I really don't think we have any means of getting the correct key.

I'm assuming that the keys are not interchangeable, i.e. I can't just borrow someone else's Pitlock key to get this one off, is that right?

[meic]

I would be inclined to persist a bit longer and more brutally with the molegrips as I have shifted rusted twenty year old chassis bolts with them but if the heads are chromeplated they may never grip.

In absolute desperation I would get out my angle grinder and cut a large screwdriver slot in the end of the head, or grind off some of the chrome to make flats for the moles to grip.

If that fails I would angle grind off the whole head but be wary not to melt any seals on your hub!!!!
and cover everything to prevent grinding spark damage.

[AndyB]

I noticed on the Hubjub site recently they posted something about these, saying that a simple method had been discovered to 'crack' them. I can't find the information now, so may well be wrong, but it might be worth a quick email.

[Mick F]

Any chance of a photograph?

[CREPELLO]

I can't see mole grips being any help. The nut is protected by a revolving collar.

Apparently Pitlocks aren't invincible. There is some sort of wrench device available that can mould itself to the nut profile. I think it's made up of ******** ****.

Anyway, you might be able to get some narrow pin nosed pliers in between the nut and collar. Or if you can get purchase on a hooky bit of the nut* with a screwdriver and tap it loose with a hammer.
*It may be possible to accentuate the 'hook' with a needle file or by applying a sharp blow with the screwdriver and hammer. You just need to be able to get the screwdriver to hold in place whilst tapping it. It will depend on how tight the nut is of course.

[531colin]

Hi Alice
Is it these



http://www.pitlock.com/

I reckon I could get those off with a 4 1/2" angle grinder....I would try the rotating shroud thing first, grind a slot in it and bust it off, then turn the "nut" with mole grips.
Failing that, grind the head end off.

Stainless is a pig to drill unless you have eg. a pillar drill.

[thirdcrank]

Presumably it would be possible to to use a big bench-mounted vice to crush the bit that rotates onto the bit that doesn't? As it's a conical shape, it would need pressing firmly into the vice to prevent the closing jaws from pushing it out.

[531colin]

Presumably it would be possible to to use a big bench-mounted vice to crush the bit that rotates onto the bit that doesn't? As it's a conical shape, it would need pressing firmly into the vice to prevent the closing jaws from pushing it out.

Somebody give TC a coconut!....thats the first thing to try!

[alicej]

Colin - of course I could only really see the thing side-on, but yes it does look like that from the top.

I tried to take photos of the tricky bit that needs the key but they haven't come out well enough. Basically a very smooth kind of odd-oval shaped nut is recessed a long way inside a collar with only a very small gap between collar and nut. There's just nothing to grip.

BTW, for the security of people using these skewers it might be wise not to post on here any solutions which could be used by a thief to nick a wheel. I think the design is so good that not much outside of a workshop is going to be any use, but if anyone does have any ideas which could potentially also be used to defeat these skewers on a bike locked in the street then maybe PM me rather than publically post on this thread?

[alicej]

Presumably it would be possible to to use a big bench-mounted vice to crush the bit that rotates onto the bit that doesn't? As it's a conical shape, it would need pressing firmly into the vice to prevent the closing jaws from pushing it out.

Somebody give TC a coconut!....thats the first thing to try!

Ooh right, yeah, that might do it!

[531colin]

From Pitlock site

key..


I was assuming the shroud thing turns, it may not, of course.

[Ribblehead]

From Pitlock site

key..


I was assuming the shroud thing turns, it may not, of course.

It looks very much like a locking alloy wheel nut as used on cars to me. A long time ago someone told me that theives have been defeating locking alloy wheel nuts using a universal socket wrench.

http://www.amazon.com/Gator-Grip-ETC-200MO-Universal-Socket/dp/B000065CJ8

[Edwards]

How about taking the bike to a garage and getting them to Mig Weld the collar to the cone. Then you can use grips as mentioned.