nick92

hey i recently bought an old jump bike with the idea of upgrading it. I finished it and had been riding it for about 2 weeks when i noticed the bb seemed lob sided. I took the crank of and found that where only two ball bearings remaining so i decided to carry on riding until i could afford to fix it (stupid i know) Now i cant get the crank of the axle as the thred that you use to screw the crank removal tall onto has shredded and the bb is seized. Does anyone have any sudgetions to fix these problems.

Thanks alot

Nick

vpiuva

Welcome to BF. But ouch, you should have never done that. To paraphrase: a penny of preventive maintenance, or a dollar of cure.

Hate to say it, but it sounds like you're now on to the bigger hammer method. 2 armed gear puller, like you'd find in an auto parts store, to remove the crank arms, or a tie-rod (or is it ball joint?) separator fork, also auto, are two choices.

Not sure what you'll find in the BB.

GCRyder

Which side is the problem? If it's the non-drive side, and the BB is the old cups & cones variety (which it sounds like) it's not hard to remove the BB adjustable cup and spindle with the crankarm still attached. Then you can drive the spindle out with a drift of some kind, while holding the crankarm in a vice or clamped over the edge of your bench.

If it's the drive side, intact removal is a bit more difficult, since the usual tool for that side won't go on with the crank and chainrings in place. If you remove the chainrings and give yourself some space, though, you might be able to get a big Crescent wrench or set of water pump pliers onto the flats of the fixed cup. Since you evidently removed the BB recently, this may not require as much force as it would otherwise.

Obviously, these suggestions both assume that you're able to remove the opposite crank arm.

seeker333

Dremel tool / die grinder useful for this job if you're planning to retire the crank (which sounds like you'll have to).