I ride a GMC Denali for commuting to work, something I can leave outside in the rain and not really care too much about because it's cheap. I would like to be able to do some maintenance on it from time to time though and keep it riding smooth. Lately I've been having some bottom bracket and wheel hub issues and would like to be able to replace them if needed and just keep them properly greased in general.
I don't know what kind of bottom bracket it is or what specific tool I'd need for it, same for the crank and hubs. If anyone knows what specific tools I would need to work on these I would really appreciate it. If you have links even better. Tried LBS, they weren't much help, they said they were out of half the tools which were of course heavily overpriced and just kept pushing to sell me a new bike (Not leaving a good bike in the rain while I work, they didn't seem to get it). My bike is just a standard GMC Denali (yellow & black) current model, any help would really mean a lot to me.
for the bottom bracket and crank you need to look up what it is and get the right tool that fits. park tool has a great website with pictures of everything telling you what you need. for hubs you will just need a crescent wrench in addition to an adjustable wrench that you probably already have to get in there, then new grease and bearings to replace the old ones. again, park tool's website has detailed instructions with pictures.
There's an old thread around here somewhere where a guy had a Denali and changed all the parts on it. I actually met the guy when I gave him some free parts to use for it, and we went for a little ride.
I didn't see the bike when he first got it, so I'm not sure exactly which type of BB and crank it had, but I do know that he was able to put a standard Shimano BB and generic Nashbar crank on it without issues, so it's not like you need special Walmart parts for it or anything.
Actually, he took his Denali down to the frame and replaced everything. The frame is just a "regular" frame, but it's really heavy and has a crap-load of welding on it. It looked like it was pretty hefty/strong/durable.
That will satisfy most of your tool needs. You may need a different bottom bracket tool but most of the other weird ones are in there (chain whip, allen wrenches, cone wrenches, crank pullers etc etc). Just buy any additional tools as you need them.
Park makes outstanding tools if you'd rather spend more.
The Denali thread is over in Commuting I think, and the Bicycle Mechanics forum would be the best place for this thread.
The Road Forum is reserved for pointless banter about saddle color, carbon fiber heat tolerance, 'which bike' threads, and is the working draft of Pcad's manifesto.
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