Originally Posted by
NukeouT
Took my 1983 Raleigh Olympian and put a newer BB and Sugino crank from a 1988 Giant into it. Lately i've been having some problems with the spindle being a little loose, & weird pedaling vibrations. I opened up my bottom bracket last month to find that my ball bearing retainers had both sheared open. I found some other retainers with simular sized ball bearings at the workshop and stuck those inside. Now im finding that I have pedaling resistance that comes and goes as I ride.
Did you install the retainers in the proper orientation? The symptom you describe suggests that one or both retainers need to be flipped. Also check for damage to the cups or spindle.
Positron there told me that I could throw in some larger ball bearings instead. This sounds like a great way to deal with my current problems and make the BB more durable.
I wouldn't do this. The bearing races are ground to use a specific size ball. A larger ball will often cause more problems that it solves.
The retainers I had with the original BB took 9 balls. When I was looking through the ball bearing retainers and bearings at the workshop it seemed like theres some size standard for both bearings and retainers with 9 bearings. I also kept a couple of the original ball bearings that came with the spindle I currently use.
Your current BB almost certainly uses 1/4" balls, and the bearing races should be able to hold up to 11 balls on each side. You can either pack them loose, as DOS describes above, or use
11-ball retainers:
