Originally Posted by
jdawginsc
They did come up and even have a specific tool to remove the dust cap, specifically.
And make no mistake there would be folks who would buy that thing for the sole purpose of removing the dust cap as well, for their own peace of mind, for preventing a catastrophe, and for a variety of other reasons.
Originally Posted by
AdventureManCO
So you survived the bike ride? And the bike survived!? Some members were sure your bike was about to burst into flames
The bike and the bike ride were great. I have paid attention to it just yesterday, and as I have mentioned earlier, I may have very well ridden the bike in the same condition for about an year now without even noticing it. I did tighten the cup 3/4th of the way, before the ride, so that the threads were not showing up any more (it was still out by 1/4th, but the adjustable wrench was too wide and hitting the frame). I was paying attention to it during the bike ride and carried the adjustable wrench with me, just in case................ I'm still alive.
Originally Posted by
madpogue
Water under the bridge, but tightening it may have been a bad idea. You might actually have been saved by not being able to tighten it further. Here's why:
Look closely at the top of the pic below. Focus on the distance between the "head" of the fixed cup and the face of the shell on the frame, comparing the "aft" side (left side of photo) with the forward side (right side of photo). The aft side is closer, indicating that the cup is not in straight, i.e. cross-threaded. Threading it in further may well have damaged the threads, either on the cup or on the shell.
The reason the arm is so close is that the spindle is too far to the right. The adjustable cup was most likely turned way too far in, to compensate for the fact that the fixed cup is so far out. This shifts the spindle to the right. For this reason, it's entirely possible that the bearings are NOT extremely loose in the assembly as speculated/concerned above, so there may not be damage to the bearing surfaces. From what I can tell, the most likely damage will be to the threads on the drive side.
I did not notice any damage to the threads as I felt that the cup went straight in as I tightened it. I will remove and repack the bottom bracket with new ball bearings and grease, as have had enough experiences to realize that a regular bike maintenance will make a big difference in how the bike rides.
Thank you for your comment, nevertheless.
🙏