hollowtech 11 middle ring

No,
its easy to remove the opposite crank arm and you can slide out the crank set.

You can get that plastic piece off without the little star shaped doohikki tool, put its way easier with it.

The tool is good to have, it's not expensive...http://www.jensonusa.com/store/product/TL403B01-Shimano+Tl-Fc16+Installation+Tool.aspx but if you're creative you can live without it...or removing the driveside arm...

miggy said:

can i change the middle ring without removing the whole crank. or do i need to go and get a hollowtech 2 tool

Click to expand...

Perhaps I am misremembering, but I think I've changed the middle ring on a Hollowtech II crankset by simply removing the big and middle rings. As I recall, it can be a bit of a puzzle to figure out how to slide the middle ring off over the spider and the crankarm once the big ring is off. It may depend too on what brand of ring you have on the crankset.

Anyway, it's certainly worth a try. The worst that can happen is that you'll find that you need to remove the crankarm. As ziscwg said, you don't need the star shaped tool to remove the endcap on the non-drive side. Simply loosen the pinch bolts and then use a suitably spread long nose pliers in two of the round "slots" in the end cap.

Yes you can take off the middle without removing the crank. You need to take the granny off to do it though. remove the bolts from the granny, and sit the ring on the bb shell. you can now remove the big and middle rings. Simple.

You should get the crank tool though, you will need it someday.

c

thanks folks, will get by with taking off the granny ring, but will get the tool, replacing XT middle ring with race face hopefully it will last longer.

:thumbsup: