RetroBIKE general guide to stubborn bottom bracket removal

Our little hobby can sometimes unearth the most knackard old shite - years of practice, grazed knuckles and swears words have given me the following:

Tools required:

quality Shimano BB tool from Park, etc

Socket set - in my case its a 24mm socket

long crank bolt - these arent widely available so you make your own by forcing a bolt into the bb axle. The BB axle is a far harder grade steel than the bolt so will make its own thread.

metre long pole or bar of some sort - in my case my towbar mounted bike rack.

1. bolt BB tool to the right side of the axle, bolt it fairly tight to prevent any damage to the tool or BB.

2. rotate socket wrench and long pole to the RIGHT, in the same direction as pedaling whilst standing on the rear stays or with another person to assist in keep the frame steady.

Always undo the cartridge side first, never the plastic bit as this will immediately disintegrate.

This method has so far been 100% successful with manky old frames. No heat required! No grazed knuckles!

Some BBs have different threads so the method above works but some investigation will be required first.

Good work LGF, i'll be pointing all BB questions here in the future

Good tip

That's basically what I've done in the past. Although I tend you use a spanner or breaker bar rather than socket as you can put too much load on the ratchet with such a long bar :shock:

wadsy":3by5732x said:

Good tip

That's basically what I've done in the past. Although I tend you use a spanner or breaker bar rather than socket as you can put too much load on the ratchet with such a long bar :shock:

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quality tools sir, quality tools.

aha i can better that pic , ill put it up later!

Prevention is better than cure - I always assemble bottom brackets, seat posts etc., in fact everything, with a good dollop of grease on the threads so that things won't seaze into the frames or to each other. Even better, use some copper grease, copaslip, copper-ease.

Of course, that won't help with that newly acquired 20 year old bicycle that was originally assembled by a monkey and has been languishing, un-loved, in a damp shed for the last 15 years and has almost completely fused into a rusty whole.

Looks like you are using that piece of wall for more then just sitting on

SIEZED BB

good work shifting that!

tell me about it! ive got some 30" stilsons that no bb has beaten yet. the things you have to do sometimes just to keep the project going those steel shells hold on to a bb big-style.i shifted one recently,like you, had to harness 'other' apparatus to achieve the goal. when it gave me the initial movement it sounded like a tombstone being removed after thousands of years.

I've got a seized Shimano BB on my Bear Valley SE, I've done exactly that and the bloody thing still won't move, even a subtle application of heat and plenty of penetrating spray hasn't helped. Anymore suggestions?

damian":ik74kdil said:

I've got a seized Shimano BB on my Bear Valley SE, I've done exactly that and the bloody thing still won't move, even a subtle application of heat and plenty of penetrating spray hasn't helped. Anymore suggestions?

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you sure you are doing it right?

I even tried it out on some really knackard frames without failure