Bottom bracket - help!!

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Bottom bracket - help!!

Postby CCS » 23 Apr 2014 11:34

I know that I should have learned to leave well alone by now....
...but...
I have Champ sitting in pieces on the patio, and as ever, need some maintenance advice.
There was a bit of lateral play in my cranks... and I remember way back on the Bridgtown maintenance day (when Champ was selected for maintenance demo on account of being a great example of wear & tear and poor maintenance), he also had this, which was remedied by taking everything apart; cleaning it, and putting back together...
However, having got cranks off (how difficult is it to find the allen key socket set and a mallet?), and removed one of the cup thingies (apologies for the technical terminology), it feels a bit grindy when I spin the bearing in the cup. Is it new BB time?
The part has big text saying 'do not disassemble' - which I am obeying.
Also, the hole that the crank came out of seems to be full of rusty coloured gunk.

Do I call in the professionals at this stage - as I don't think I even have the right tools to replace a BB. It has taken most of the morning to get to this stage, and I have oil all over my nice new flourescent pink t-shirt (and two 8 year olds to entertain).

Help!!!
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Re: Bottom bracket - help!!

Postby Kevy427 » 23 Apr 2014 12:16

Yup, sounds like a new BB is required. It's quite easy to replace and works out cheaper than buying the individual bearings. It's an ideal opportunity to clean everything out as it sounds like there's been some water ingress (from the road rather than warm spring water being gently poured over the bike before being scrubbed with a silk flannel and Imperial Leather soap)
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Re: Bottom bracket - help!!

Postby CCS » 23 Apr 2014 13:35

Kevy427 wrote:It's an ideal opportunity to clean everything out

Sorry - don't understand!

Bike (and associated bag of pieces) has now been shut away in the garage in disgrace... think I will be riding the TT for a bit...
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Re: Bottom bracket - help!!

Postby Ewan » 23 Apr 2014 14:26

yeah, replacing the bearing cups is super duper easy and cheaper than trying to service the bearings yourself. Google park tools help pages for bottom brackets - lots of information there including this page which may or may not be useful.

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-hel ... tra-torque
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Re: Bottom bracket - help!!

Postby CCS » 23 Apr 2014 14:35

Ewan wrote:yeah, replacing the bearing cups is super duper easy and cheaper than trying to service the bearings yourself. Google park tools help pages for bottom brackets - lots of information there including this page which may or may not be useful.

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-hel ... tra-torque

Aah... penny dropping...
Is it just the cup bits that you replace?
I wasn't sure if you also needed to take out the innards that go in the frame (and yes - I had already been referring to that page, and cursing the fact that wifi still doesn't quite reach the garage)
Feeling slightly out of my depth technically right now... ignoring the big bag of bike parts that I now have, and hoping that if I shut it in the garage, some magical elves will sneak in overnight, and put everything back together...

As an aside, what sort of grease should be used on all these bike parts? The stuff coming out of the bike looks decidedly vaseline-like - also have a tube of lithium grease as an option - or is something else entirely recommended?
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Re: Bottom bracket - help!!

Postby Jack Hughes » 23 Apr 2014 14:44

Depends how much you want to spend.

I have finish line ceramic grease. Mainly for the power tap hub, as it cost so much I thought it deserved the finest grease.

But anything thick and greasy would probably do (assuming that some car grease is what you have lying around). The pressures and temperatures are a lot lower than in a car... obviously, it doesn't want to be runny like oil, as it wouldn't stay put.
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Re: Bottom bracket - help!!

Postby jonathon.e » 23 Apr 2014 14:45

White lithium should be okay, but, if you are looking at maintaing the servicing interval as you do at present ( which is the same as mine, if it works leave it alone ) then use marine grease
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Re: Bottom bracket - help!!

Postby gingertri » 25 Jun 2014 20:22

Did you sort it?

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Re: Bottom bracket - help!!

Postby CCS » 25 Jun 2014 23:05

gingertri wrote:Did you sort it?

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Yes - took Ade's recommendation of local bike maintenance bloke; handed him the remains of the bike and bag of components that I had removed; he returned me bike fully serviced with a new BB and all re-assembled. Amazing how much better it rode after being fixed up by a pro!
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Re: Bottom bracket - help!!

Postby Tritans » 27 Jun 2014 00:11

I hope you also imparted the same highly technical description as I do in these circumstances.

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