ollyisk

i've never had a harder time doing any work on a bike before (not to say i've got a ton of experience).

last night i decided i was going to repaint my beater beast. simple enough, right? well, i got everything off then decided to tackle the bottom bracket. my dust covers are made of plastic--20+ year old plastic to be exact. the drive side dust cover came off fairly easily, without actually destroying the dust cover.

however, the other dust cover wasn't so forgiving. it totally disintegrated--with the plastic still threaded. i thought long and hard about how i should get the plastic out...my most extreme thought was to get a lighter and melt the hell out of it. i decided to sleep on it, and this morning i just said, "f it" and decided to go at it full throttle with a screw driver, i was able to get most of the plastic chunks out, which allowed me enough room to get a socket wrench on the 14mm nut. i've been completely unsuccessful in unscrewing it. i've literally never tried this hard to unscrew anything in my entire life, and i think i've caused more harm to myself (esteem and body) than i have to the nut.

does anyone have any advice to getting this thing off? i swear that nut is fused to freaking spindle. any tricks of the trade would be greatly appreciated.

Retem

use a 14mm socket wrench and some wd 40 my old touring bike had a 30+yr old bb in it when I took it apart to rebuild and paint

seaneee

Yeah, WD-40 works. Also, try putting the socket on the nut, hold the crank arm and tap the socket arm with a rubber mallet. It's tricky since you are using both hands, but it works.

Igneous Faction

If you've got a flat bar lying around, use it as a cheater bar. Try not to punch yourself in the face though...

Retem

you could also take the cr off and put your foot on the opposite crank arm and use both hand to push

ollyisk

i WD-40ed the hell out of it, still no luck, i'm just going to keep WD-40ing it and tapping it till this bastard budges

seaneee

Give it a bit of time to let the WD-40 work it's way in there. Maybe let it sit overnight.

chase.

I recommend PB Blaster over WD40 as a penetrant/rust solvent. Works much better and you can find it at an auto parts store.

goldener

blowtorch ftw!

jim-bob

I swear by liquid wrench for this kind of thing.

Well, that and lots of leverage.

roadgator

if all else fails find someone with an impact gun. but like the others said, just try different ways off getting more leverage.

Jerseysbest

Are you turning it the right way?