world's toughest BB removal - is it a GT thing?

Anyone ever had to use an impact wrench (what you'd use to remove car wheel nuts) to get a RH BB cartridge out before? My fellow tinkerer and I had to run approx. 50lb/ft torque on a '98 GT to get this one out after a week-long WD40 bath!

The only other bike that was as tough was also a '90s GT and the plastic LH side cup cracked at first sign on turning (not with impact wrench!) but we managed to hacksaw it down and pick it out! Is this a GT thing - this is only my second GT rebuild - ???

Happy days!

Oh sure blame it on the bike maker....No this is not a GT issue. It is common on bikes that have been abused and not seen the service they deserve. Judging by the amount of orange on that BB you can easily tell that. That appears to be a Ti frame also...and if that's the case the bottom bracket should have been installed with some Ti-prep or anti-seize. When uncommon metals meet galling can take place over time making a heavily oxidized bottom bracket like the one you have pictured very tough to remove.

Another thing that can make BB removal tough is if the bottom bracket cable guide bolt is a tad long it can hit the body of the cartridge BB acting as a "set screw". Have run into this before. I always loosen the cable guide bolt a couple turns when removing BB's for this very reason.

Note: previous owner should have all his toys taken away if he's not going to take care of them Yes....11 years of water and oxidation in a bottom bracket can make them tough to remove on any make or model.

hehe - nah, it just plain old 4130 cro-mo (it's a silver Timberline) and only I got the bike recently

the new BB's gone in with anti-seize of course!

just wondered if it was a GT thing as the worst two to remove that I've ever known were both GTs - but as you say both were somewhat neglected by their previous owners.

Dead Rats":odjzsxq6 said:

hehe - nah, it just plain old 4130 cro-mo (it's a silver Timberline) and only I got the bike recently

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Worse yet steel on steel....you were lucky to get it out. Have had a few tough ones like that my self and found both a long soak of PB Blaster and lots of heat to help with the removal.

When I have a tough one....I actually use a 8mm bolt and washer to hold the BB tool into the cartridge bottom bracket then use a two foot long pipe wrench on the BB tool with a 4-8' steel pipe over the pipe wrench handle. Have only ever had two I couldn't remove this way and both were alloy cupped BB's in titanium frames

Problem with fit and forget components is just that :roll:

Use copper grease or similar to install stuff and check at regular intervals.

My bug bear is when a previous owner had a frame too large for them and rammed the seat post in as far as it would go without greasing it first, years later the post is practically welded inside the seat tube :evil:

I like copper grease

gm1230126":tv6ilzw3 said:

When I have a tough one....I actually use a 8mm bolt and washer to hold the BB tool into the cartridge bottom bracket then use a two foot long pipe wrench on the BB tool with a 4-8' steel pipe over the pipe wrench handle.

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i used this technique on the last really tough one i had (in a kona frame for the record)

2 people holding the frame down on the bench, 2 people putting all there weight on the end of the 4ft scaffold tube. all of a sudden BANG sparks fly, turned out the Park heavy duty bb tool had shattered.

prof farnsworth":32h61ggo said:

gm1230126":32h61ggo said:

all of a sudden BANG sparks fly, turned out the Park heavy duty bb tool had shattered.

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blimey! the tool we used was brand new before the GT BB came out (see photo) and we were worried that this would break too!

prof farnsworth":3c7ounwv said:

gm1230126":3c7ounwv said:

When I have a tough one....I actually use a 8mm bolt and washer to hold the BB tool into the cartridge bottom bracket then use a two foot long pipe wrench on the BB tool with a 4-8' steel pipe over the pipe wrench handle.

Click to expand...

i used this technique on the last really tough one i had (in a kona frame for the record)

2 people holding the frame down on the bench, 2 people putting all there weight on the end of the 4ft scaffold tube. all of a sudden BANG sparks fly, turned out the Park heavy duty bb tool had shattered.

Click to expand...

Have wrecked Park wrenches myself doing this in the past but the intended Shimano tools have always held up well for me.

You could try this one next time If you have got the left hand cup out...Knock the axle and bearings through the other side with a big hammer.

Then get a large right hand thread bolt and nut and bolt it through the hole.
Hold the nut from the inside with a socket and put a long ring spanner on the bolt head or bb tool if there are any teeth left. Add leverage as required (a pole) at 50 nm it should be about the same as tightening a bb up.

The frame on that side is left hand thread, as you tighten the bolt it grips more and more until the grip is tighter than the threaded cup in the frame you are loosening... tighten nut to loosen cup1

You can do the same on the left cup (rh thread) with a left hand thread nut and bolt (Hard to find)

This is one of many ways of beating the seized bottom brackets gods.... but in 25 years of removing bb's I've never been beaten