Lazyass

Don't really wish him harm, but what the hell.

I have my old warhorse, a 2011 Focus Culebro with BB30 and I decided to bring it back to life with some new Kuota carbon cranks and new bearings for the current shot ones. I went through the BB30 hell abut 5-6 years ago years ago when I installed my current cranks/bearings and got through it. Not sure I ever properly installed the bearings, though, because the cranks never spun as smooth as I thought they should but now they're totally shot.

I'm going through it again and the damn bearings will not come out like before. I have one of the inexpensive removal tools that you have to hammer with a rod or something. I heated up the shell with my heat gun. Last time they popped out pretty easily but not now. The locktite I had to use so the freaking things wouldn't creak isn't helping. I'm pouring sweat in my air conditioned spare bedroom bike room.

I really hate hammering on the bike like that and I've decided that for the first time in my 34 year cycling hobby I am going to have a mechanic work on my bike and get the cranks installed. I'm done. I don't want to spend the money on a good bearing removal tool that may/may not help. Just wanted to vent to all the people who don't care

But if someone does have a tip that might help I'm all ears. Otherwise I'm going to take the drive of shame to the shop tomorrow.

cxwrench

Hammer (big), drift/punch, friend to hold frame, beers for eventual success. You've removed the retainer rings, right?

HillRider

If the frame is metal, not carbon, acetone will dissolve Loctite. Just keep the acetone off the paint.

Mad Honk 

I use a Snap-On impact gun on those bottom bracket parts. I also have a rather high torque Mac that will do even more to remove those stubborn bottom bracket parts. They are a bit expensive for the regular home mechanic but they do the job with minimal effort and damage to the bike. I have them because I also work in the auto industry and they are part of everyday wheel and tire removal. But they do a great job on the bottom brackets and quickly. If you have a friend in the auto shop world it is worth contacting him. HTH, MH

scott967

Dremel them out. That's what I had to do on a PF30. I don't know your bike BB configuration, but hammering like heck to get a bearing out will get you an early end of life for the frame.

scott s.
.

cxwrench

OP says it's BB30...there are no threads thus no need for torque.
Again, the OP clearly says it's BB30. It's an aluminum shell w/ bearings pressed in. Making the frame stable helps a ton. They are never very hard to get out using the right technique. It will not damage the frame.

Rogerogeroge

Really? Please don't come near my bikes.

If you can put a three foot cheater bar on a socket/BB cup tool etc. you'll out-torque any half-inch drive impact gun. The only thing you don't get is the initial impact of the gun.

cpach

If your frame has trouble with the BB you'd probably benefit from something that provides some alignment of the bearings besides the shell. One piece solutions like BBinfinite or Hambini would be best if possible, otherwise thread together solutions like Wheelsmfg or Praxis are an improvement over the bearings in the bare frame if your frame tolerances suck. BB30 sucks because the bike industry can't hold tolerances. It works absolutely fine when it works out. My Cannondale Supersix is blessed (unlike many other similar Supersixes) with an in tolerance BB shell and still has the original bearings a decade and tens of thousands of miles later.

Given the crapshoot of bearing tolerances, pressfit has been a real pain in my ass. For reasons unknown, I see less problems with BB86/92 bikes.

Lazyass

I didn't remove the rings but the removal tool I have doesn't sit on them. I have this:



The problem with it is when you hammer it once it slips off so you have to reseat it before you give it another blow. If they had been smart they would have made it magnetic. Are you talking about using a punch directly on the bearing? I did think of that but it seems like it might wedge the bearing in the shell if one side of it pushes out, due to the tight tolerance.

TiHabanero

Perhaps the liquid locker used on the bearing surfaces is holding too tightly. Got a real problem on your hands there. Hopefully the shop can get the snap rings out and fit the proper tool in there for extraction. If not, the problem doubles.

cxwrench

Yes, directly on the bearing.

Lazyass

I'll try it, thanks.

Lazyass

I used blue threadlocker not red so hopefully I'm not screwed. I was hoping the bearings would never go bad but the creaking was horrible. BB30 for the lose.

zandoval 

Understood... and the shop might have the proper tools to ease removal.

All in all it's much better to not hear hammering on your carbon bike. So leave it at the shop, getting some else to do it is less nerve racking...

J.Higgins 

Believe it or not, Mad Honk has the right idea. I've successfully used a 1/2" impact gun on hundreds of threaded bottom brackets over the years, and I can tell you that with a little care, it is much more preferable and safer for the health of the bike's bottom bracket. Why? Because you are concentrating all of the rotational force to the threads on the BB cup, not to the rest of the frame. I've used cheater bars on that sort of operation, and its a procedure that is full of flaw and fail. I've seen people use cheater bars, and - without proper bracing to the frame - bend the frame in different spots. If you use something to apply leverage to a tool, and use the frame as part of that leverage, the frame needs to be supported and held in a safe and secure manner. Better to apply rotational torque to the smallest location possible. An impact driver, with the appropriate BB removal tool attached, will loosen and removed just about any frozen BB cup. By the way, I recommend this for steel-to-steel situations, where the cups are steel and the BB shell is steel. I do not recommend this for aluminium shells with steel cups. Why? Because you never know when the aluminium threads have welded themselves to the steel threads. Apply impact-driver forces to that situation and its a recipe for disaster - all of your alloy threads will strip out and come out welded to the steel cup. Dont ask me how I know.

I know this guy that has roughly 2000+ bikes. No junk. No wally-bikes and no one-piece crank bike either. Every bike that he keeps is LBS-quality. I can go on and on describing his setup, but it won't add to my point, so if anyone wants to hear it, I can write about that whole scene of his in detail. Meanwhile, I'll just say that he doesnt like British 3-speeds or the cheaper bikes that came out of Nottingham. It just so happens that I do. He used to sell to me - for $10 apiece - as many as I could tie-onto the back of my pickup truck. Several times a year I would go visit him, bring some lunch, chitchat, pick through his pile of bikes that were destined for the metal bin, and come home with them. Before long, I had a problem. I had 60+ bikes under blue tarps out behind my house, and a wife chafing my arse about the eyesore part of it. I had to agree. It a savory situation. So I began breaking them down into easily-categorized parts, which at the time I was hoping for - the sum of the parts - to become worth more than the whole. Well to make a long story short, I used the impact to bust free every stubborn drive-side fixed-cup BB that I had, and ALL yielded to my technique, and ALL were in a state of usable condition when it was all said and done.

So dont think ill of the impact driver. Taking stuff apart, they are great. Anyone using them for assembly should have their sack nailed to a stump.

Lazyass Sorry for the long-winded OT post in your thread, man. I know it doesn't help you much, but for what its worth, I'll just say that if you need a proper tool now, you'll probably need it again sometime. Well-worth it to buy one, especially if you get one that can be used for headsets -and- BBs. Good luck!

Lazyass

A beer goes to cxwrench

Wish I had thought of removing the rings from the inside. One of those "no shi*" deals. Did that and they punched right out.

Joeyseven

Oh joy,
I bought these same cranks, which btw are very nice.
The good news is my BB30 are almost new on my Fuji and should not need replacing when I switch crankset.