Hi everyone,
I had posted about my planning to switch out my crank on my own, and after some good advice here and at my LBS, I proceeded. Lesson one: make sure your new crank fits BEFORE you take the old one off.... Yeah... Now I'm getting a new bottom bracket, because it's cheaper than returning a crank to Merlin in the UK. But that is a different story.
After taking the crank off, I just cleaned it, lubricated, and put it back in, since the new one did not fit. I also removed a broken washer that was just hanging on the arm, rattling, and didn't seem to have any mechanical role. Since then, on fast pedaling, especially with the chain on the big ring, I hear a regular purring sound, like bearing rattling, except it's not rattling, it's extremely regular and constant. Is this normal? Does it just sound like that because I've cleaned and lubricated it? The main reason I am concerned is that in the process of taking it off (it's an FSA self-extracting crank) I initially pulled in the wrong direction to take it off. I used a torque wrench to make sure I don't hurt anything even while taking it off, but I had adjusted it higher than the max specified tension to take it off (I figured it might need the extra push to come off), so I have definitely applied more pressure than specified initially, until I figured out I was going in the wrong direction. There is no other sign of malfunction, it spins straight and nice, but I want to make sure this new noise isn't heralding a high-speed on-road disaster.
Thanks!