Classic & Vintage - Advice please re removal of drive side cup from Vitus frame

A couple of weeks ago, I picked up an old Vitus in order to harvest the 7400 DA parts. The drive side cup, however, is seriously stuck. Both the mech at the LBS and I exerted some very serious effort trying to break it free.

How do you suggest I proceed. I assume ammonia is out since the frame and BB are Alu.

Thanks

RFC

The one Vitus 979 that came through my herd had a French-threaded BB. Do you know the threading of yours based on markings on the cups? If it's French, are you turning in the correct (counter-clockwise) direction?

Neal

The one Vitus 979 that came through my herd had a French-threaded BB. Do you know the threading of yours based on markings on the cups? If it's French, are you turning in the correct (counter-clockwise) direction?

Neal

Good question. I did check it out. Appears to be an English DA BB.

If its the steel thread seized in the alloy thread, boiling water is always worth a go. It may sound stupid, but I've removed numerous stuck alloy stems and seat posts this way. Just making the steel expand helps break the oxidisation between the two surfaces.

OK, this can be a tough one. What I do and this does not mean it is what anyone else should do, is as follows.

Ensure that you can hold a big clean edged adjustable wrench on the flats of the bottom bracket fixed cup. I do this by removing the spindle, then inserting a large bolt, with washers and a nut, through the adjustable cup hole and the fixed cup hole.

Then, fit the wrench to the flats, and get it as tight as you can(wiggle and tighten at the same time). Now tighten the nut of the big bolt up, with the large flat washers serving to hold the big adjustable wrench tight to the bottom bracket housing.

With this set-up checked carefully, apply steady and heavy pressure one way. Stop, check wrench tightness, and apply steady and heavy pressure in the opposite direction. Watch and feel for any kind of movement.

Repeat the above procedure several, even many times and the cup should start to move. Now, decide which way it moves easiest and that is the direction for removal.

Hope that is a help. This article I published on Bottom Bracket Rebuilding (http://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpeeds_1/FREE_SITE_1/FREE_SITE_12_BB_Rebuild_1_Intro.htm), complete with pictures of the Big Bolt set-up, might add something to the above.
http://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpeeds_1/HowToDoIt/PeugeotRebuild/PeugReb_Pre_BBTools3_Comment1.jpg

http://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpeeds_1/HowToDoIt/PeugeotRebuild/PeugReb_Pre_BBTools5_Comment1.jpg

Great advice. Thanks

You can also use a vice if you have a big high quality one preferrably, with minimal play on the jaws and nice clean/sharp flat edges/corners on the jaw edges. I've done this many times successfully but always with the help of my younger brother or anyone else handy to keep a lot of pressure down on the frame and BB against the vice jaws as I turned the frame slowly to crack them free. I never ruined a fixed cup or frame this way so far.
Vitus Frames were mostly English threaded at the BBs. the DA7400 cups that were originally on my Vitus Carbone was aslo seized when I got the bike a year and a half ago. Tried all sorts of penetrants including PB Blaster, Kroil and Liquid Wrnech without success, till I found CRC's "Freeze-Off". Froze/Shrunk the cups by concentrating the blast from the Freeze-Off can only on the cups and not at the BB shell and it worked in minutes! I don't want to say it will work for 100% of seized bike parts but it certainly outperformed PB blaster, Liquid Wrench and Kroil in my case and you can't lose anything but the cost of the Freeze-Off if it does not work for you. Just be careful as it is very flammable. Stay away from pilot lights and have a lot of good ventilation when you use it.
BTW, I also freed a very stuck stem from the Carbone's fork before I tried it on the BB cups. and got the same quick results. The other penetrants I mentioned also failed to free the stem before that.
Good Luck!

Chombi

Pay for shipping to and from and I'll let you borrow this:

https://secure.netsolhost.com/www.melpintoimports.com/catalog/images/BP-03000.JPG

Pay for shipping to and from and I'll let you borrow this:

https://secure.netsolhost.com/www.melpintoimports.com/catalog/images/BP-03000.JPG

That's a beautiful VAR BB cup tool Jim! Every "serious" C&Ver should have one of those!
Can those still be found out there for reasonable prices??

Chombi

Define reasonable.

:D

I sheared 2 bolts in half trying the nut and bolt method. Cup was seriously stuck.

Try soaking in oil for 24 hours and then get access to a good vise as suggested. Worked for me.

Also there was a thread on here a while back recommending a very good penetrative mix of oil and solvent, may have been oil and acetone mix but you'd need to search.

If it's really stuck I think the vise is the best bet.

Also there was a thread on here a while back recommending a very good penetrative mix of oil and solvent, may have been oil and acetone mix but you'd need to search.

If it's really stuck I think the vise is the best bet.

The mix is automatic transmission fluid and acetone. I've used it for stuck seatposts to good effect. See post #2 in this thread:

http://www.jeepforum.com/forum/f11/atf-acetone-vs-pb-blaster-others-766271/

Neal

I sheared 2 bolts in half trying the nut and bolt method. Cup was seriously stuck.

If it's really stuck I think the vise is the best bet.

NO, and NO. The nut and bolt should only be used to hold a proper fixed cup tool in place, in lieu of a nut and bolt the original axle and nut/bolt can be used.

Thread for reference:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/577145-Removing-a-stubborn-fixed-cup...MiamiJim-s-technique?highlight=%27fixed%27

I was using the Sheldon method on an adjustable cup.

http://sheldonbrown.org/tooltips/bbcups.html