4Rings6Stars

Okay so I picked this bike up for free last fall and beat around on it for a month or two. The bottom bracket was a little clunky but not that bad so I just ignored it. Well I decided this week to overhaul it so I can flip the bike in the spring...when I took the dust cap off this is what I found. The other side was pretty stripped and I could pretty much unthread it with my fingers. I'm guessing the drive side was stripped worse so somebody welded it???

Any thoughts? No amount of penetrating oil + reefing on this thing has gotten it to budge. If I'm not able to get it off...is there anyway, short of sawing the BB spindle, to get the crank/bb off the bike?

Oh yeah the bike is a 77 Fuji Sports 10 boat anchor and the crank is steel.

(mind the rust and grime...10 minutes of love and you'll never know it was there)

Ex Pres 

Now that's funny.








Sorry

khatfull

Reciprocating saw. $75 (or you have one)
Thin metal blade for saw. $10 (or you have one)
New cheap crank from eBay or CL. $10
YouTube video of you cutting through the crank and spindle. Priceless.

Bianchigirll 

parts donor

darkmagus

Can you not remove the drive side cup taking the crank and spindle with it?

mkeller234

wow... that is... yikes

Shp4man

As an Auto mechanic, I can tell you the easiest way to get that off. It's a little air powered rotary saw we call a "cut off tool". Looks like about 5 minutes work. Of course, it will destroy the crank and the BB.

cudak888 

Probably one of those "professional Craigslist bike mechanics."

-Kurt

bernardmarx

+1 what darkmagus said

twoducks

I was going to say this. Shouldn't be too hard if the cup isn't seized. You will of course need a new BB and crankset in this case.

4Rings6Stars

Hmm I didn't really think of that. I'm guessing it is on there pretty tight but I'll give it a shot.

Is it reverse threaded? I should know this by know but I haven't removed too many cranks in my just 7 months of owning a bike(s) older than myself.

Jeff Wills

It's probably left-hand thread. However, it's going to be awful tough to get a BB wrench on the cup with the crankarm in place. Personally, I'd just chop the crankarm off with a hacksaw and a nut splitter.

RobbieTunes

I'd make it someone else's free bike.

darkmagus

Yeah, it's almost certainly left-handed threads. It shouldn't be too hard if it's the style of bottom bracket that uses this wrench.

randyjawa 

The bottom bracket spindle is pooched! Get an 1/2 drive socket that fits the nut and torque the cr*p out of it. The metal spindle is hardened and should snap off. The spindle will come out the adjustment side now. If that fails, cut the through the crank shoulder and through the welded nut with a mini-grinder. Hack sawing the spindle might not work well if has bee properly hardened in the area you can get at.

The last bike I had this problem with was fixed that way. The cranks, however, were steel and I could use a grinder to cut the whole works. If there is any aluminum alloy involved, do not use the grinder. Doing so is dangerous.

Hope this is a help and I do realize that none of these suggestions smack of finesse.

rhm

I like Randyjawa's advice. I wouldn't be surprised if the weld pops and the nut comes off with no further damage; that weld can't be very strong in any case, right? (but what do I know).

Esteban32696

Aaaaarrrrrggggghhhhh !!!!

20grit

I've actually seen that sort of thing done to nuts on our farm all the time. The reason: the nut won't stay on so we just force it to stay on. So my guess is you're replacing the spindle either way. Chop it, get a new one, and try to re-coop your expenses later.

wrk101

Yes, I did that recently on a Bianchi basket case I picked up. It was easier than I thought. I removed the non drive side arm first, then I was able to remove the drive side cup by carefully positioning the tool underneath the crankset. Once I had it removed, I was able to put the crankset in a bench vise. I spent some time with PB Blaster, etc., and got the crankset off the next day.

But in your case, that spindle is a goner, and that is a junker crankset anyway. Around here, unless it is connected to some really desirable frame, that bike rebuilt would have minimal value. I would be stripping anything reusable off the bike, and either scrapping it or donating it. So it depends on your market. If you are in one of those super hot markets, it might be worth the cost and time to rebuild.

Randy's idea is worth a try too. Just determine what the market value of the bike is in finished condition first. Not worth it here.

Mike Mills

Did you try an impact driver? The manual impact drivers are inexpensive and are really quite good at loosening things that are rusted in place.

Another option is to grind or cut the bolt head off. A carbide mill bit (even available for Dremels) could be used.

EjustE

Before I would do anything, I would take to a car mechanic with an air wrench to see if that will move the nut. Those babies can move nuts from car rims that they have been rusted on for 30 years.

4Rings6Stars

I have air tools at my parents house so maybe some weekend post 4/15 (ahh public accounting) I'll drag it home and try that route.


As for this bike's worthiness for all this effort... It has some resale value but I want to fix it because it annoys me more than anything. See my rant below \/
It's a Fuji, it's red, it's 52 cm, it's Boston. Without even cleaning it, this is a $150 bike in the summer.

I started flipping a little last summer/fall and realized that a "10 speed" with steel components on a hi-ten frame, if rideable and somewhat presentable is worth > $100 with a waiting line. I sold a 58 cm Raleigh Super Record for $200...way more than I thought it was worth, but the last similar bike I posted at $150 didn't last 10 minutes.
When selling to mostly college studends it is pretty hard to break the 2 hunge mark though. A nice butted chromoly framed bike with decent components will sit on CL at $300 indefinitely, but a much lesser bike will sell in no time at $200. I digress, I should be rambling in that thread about dolphins that has been kicking around the past few days and not here....

gerald_g 

Looks to me like a blob of weld holding the nut to the spindle. I wonder if a small stone in a dremell and some patience could remove most/all of the weld, and then the nut would come off with a twist.

squirtdad

my dads nut retention technique was to tak a ball peen hammer to the bolt beyond the nut and pound it out to a nice mushroom shape.

His removal technique was to say....son go take that bolt off......but not to my youngest brother...who really likes ocy/acety torches.