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How much to tighten bottom bracket

Old 02-26-06, 12:34 AM
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How much to tighten bottom bracket

I'm putting an FSA ti-pro bottom bracket on a specialized mountain bike. My question is how far should i tighten the bottom bracket on the side without the lip? I put it in until there was about 1 thread on the frame showing. Too much? Not enough?
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Old 02-26-06, 01:12 AM
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Originally Posted by sivat
I'm putting an FSA ti-pro bottom bracket on a specialized mountain bike. My question is how far should i tighten the bottom bracket on the side without the lip? I put it in until there was about 1 thread on the frame showing. Too much? Not enough?
do you have a torque wrench? i think they're around 30-35 FT*pounds or so. do you have a "feel" for torque?? @30, you don't need to kill it to reach this torque, but its pretty snug. i have a feeling you did it enough. this isn't the type of thing to work itself loose as long as it was originally seated all the way.
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Old 02-26-06, 08:14 AM
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Originally Posted by sivat
I'm putting an FSA ti-pro bottom bracket on a specialized mountain bike. My question is how far should i tighten the bottom bracket on the side without the lip? I put it in until there was about 1 thread on the frame showing. Too much? Not enough?
I'm having kind of a hard time figureing out what you are asking. With a cartridge bottom bracket the drive side has to be pretty tight. The torque spec is usually around 30 to 35 ft/lbs so imagine a 30 pound weight on the end of a foot long wrench. The non-drive side is really just a spacer to keep the bottom bracket from tipping inside the BB shell. It just has to be tight enough to keep it from vibrating out.
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Old 02-26-06, 09:04 AM
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Originally Posted by Retro Grouch
The non-drive side is really just a spacer to keep the bottom bracket from tipping inside the BB shell. It just has to be tight enough to keep it from vibrating out.
It also has to be tight enough not to squeak and click while you pedal. That requires it to be pretty tight and I use about the same installation torque on both sides.
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Old 02-26-06, 12:56 PM
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Go to Park tool and torque to recommended allowance using a torque wrench. Also, use loctite on the threads.............be sure to use the reversible kind and not the permanent.
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Old 02-26-06, 01:57 PM
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I guess I didn't realize that there was a stop inside the bottom bracket housing for the non drive side. I torqued the drive side to 35 lb-ft, but the non-drive side never hit the stop. I guess I'll have to take it apart and re-do it.
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Old 02-26-06, 10:11 PM
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Generally it would be around 35ft lbs, but I know shimano and race face list thiers in the datasheets that everyone tosses out.
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Old 02-26-06, 10:41 PM
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Originally Posted by Retro Grouch
I'm having kind of a hard time figureing out what you are asking. With a cartridge bottom bracket the drive side has to be pretty tight. The torque spec is usually around 30 to 35 ft/lbs so imagine a 30 pound weight on the end of a foot long wrench. The non-drive side is really just a spacer to keep the bottom bracket from tipping inside the BB shell. It just has to be tight enough to keep it from vibrating out.
Hang on a bit.

You snug the fixed cup down, then torque the loose cup to spec. That keeps both in place.
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