Removing a swine of a bottom bracket

[pazaudi]

A couple of weeks ago I bought a cheap bike as I just wanted to tinker with something that if I broke it, it wouldn't have been the end of the world. Anyway I didn't really want the parts so I decided to strip it down and store it in the loft.

Have you ever bought a bike and really wish you hadn't bothered?

I can strip a bike down completely pretty quickly but this one...this one really wanted to make my life difficult. Now I've had stiff BB's before but this thing was absolutely jammed in there and wouldn't budge so after a quick search on the net I came across a great little tip, bolt the removal nut onto the BB and use a lot of elbow grease. Some of you probably know this from experience but I've never had to sweat to take apart a bike before. Here's the results after using all my strength with a breaker bar. That deserves a beer, this weekend I'll begin on the stuck stem after a week of soaking it with penetrating oil. Hope you find pleasure in my misery.

 

[The History Man]

Lots of stuck threads about stuck threads on here.

Have a search.

 

[PhillB]

A couple of weeks ago I bought a cheap bike as I just wanted to tinker with something that if I broke it, it wouldn't have been the end of the world. Anyway I didn't really want the parts so I decided to strip it down and store it in the loft.

Have you ever bought a bike and really wish you hadn't bothered?

I can strip a bike down completely pretty quickly but this one...this one really wanted to make my life difficult. Now I've had stiff BB's before but this thing was absolutely jammed in there and wouldn't budge so after a quick search on the net I came across a great little tip, bolt the removal nut onto the BB and use a lot of elbow grease. Some of you probably know this from experience but I've never had to sweat to take apart a bike before. Here's the results after using all my strength with a breaker bar. That deserves a beer, this weekend I'll begin on the stuck stem after a week of soaking it with penetrating oil. Hope you find pleasure in my misery.


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Hehe, I feel your pain. About 60% of my bikes are like this, but then those are typically rust buckets that people have neglected for decades I have a metre long wrench which helps!!

I've only had one BB I couldn't unscrew and I had to end up drilling it out.

 

[ishaw]

Strangely the only stuck BB I've had issues getting out was on a ti GT. Plusgas and a second pair of hands sorted it. The tip you've mentioned is the only way I try and remove old style bbs, having learned the hard way once that chewing the teeth makes it much harder to remove.

I have had the opposite challenge. Every BB I owned from square taper to ht2 fitted absolutely fine on a frame I had, all except the BB I wanted and needed to fit, a nos Shimano un7x, all a bit strange that one.

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

As a side issue, I had a friend decide he wanted to get into restoring bikes. He got as far as the BB and the damn thing wouldn't budge. Tried penetrating lubes, hitting the spanner with a mallet, all the usual things. Thankfully he didn't go nuts and damage the splines on the cup.

I took a look at it. Bolted the tool in place, gave the big shifting spanner a good push and out came the cup, no problemo.

He didn't realise the drive side was reversed threaded...

I said "It's alright, I made the mistake the first time I removed a BB too. You're on your way to becoming a bike mechanic."

 

[Twozaskars]

Strangely the only stuck BB I've had issues getting out was on a ti GT. Plusgas and a second pair of hands sorted it. The tip you've mentioned is the only way I try and remove old style bbs, having learned the hard way once that chewing the teeth makes it much harder to remove.

I have had the opposite challenge. Every BB I owned from square taper to ht2 fitted absolutely fine on a frame I had, all except the BB I wanted and needed to fit, a nos Shimano un7x, all a bit strange that one.

Was that the 99p one they stick in a Lightning?

 

[d8mok]

Was that the 99p one they stick in a Lightning?

Been there too.

Only BB I’ve had to cut out.

Everything else in likely 500+ bikes split has come out by turning it in a vice.

 

[ishaw]

Was that the 99p one they stick in a Lightning?

I don't believe so, I think it was a hope ti or a fairly decent Shimano. What did they come fitted with them,? The lightning I bought ages ago and must build was quite modified in the component department, even had hope mono disc brakes via an adapter at the rear and some questionable more modern parts.