g.brew

my cranks keep on cleaking. ive thightened them at the bottom brackett and still creaking. ive a 165mm shimano rx100 square taper crank set on my fixed gear. i did buy them used. no signs of fractures or anthing like that. the bottom brakett is a brand new un-72. anyone with any ideas? couldnt be the pedals could it? thanks!!!

chris1010

i've had this problem all the time with my square tapered BB. I found taking the crank off, wiping down contact points between the BB and crank and then tightening it up real tight did the job for about an hour.. (probably not best way to solve the problem though). I've also heard that greasing up everything works too. The creak comes from metal on metal rub so lubing it up with grease is suppost to quiet that down. Never really tried that though. I upgraded to a splined crank and the problem is gone. Try asking your LBS, they'll have a good idea what to do.

russiankdi

take the crank apart, clean it all out very well, then pack the bearings with grease. Make sure everything is greased up well. then assemble, tighten it to the point where there is no access movement in the crank...but make sure the bearings spin freely. this may take a while to do....but you will be happy when your done

operator

How sure are you that it's the cranks? Does it just sound like they are coming from the cranks?

g.brew

thanks everyone. im quite sure its coming from the cranks. after tightening them alot it does cure the problem for "about an hour." the b/b is a sealed and brand new unit so bearing overhall wouldnt be an issue. ill try the clean and lube suggestion. the sound im getting is very similiar to the sound i heard 10 years ago from my odyssey black widow cranks on my bmx bike; shortly after.... snap! i may just invest in some new cranks. thanks alot!

silversmith

Actually, the fact that its a new BB makes me feel that its the BB creaking. I bet its not tightened enough.

I just had this trouble myself with a new sealed BB.

concernicus

i tried greasing the bb spindle on my fixed gear, and two days later came a herrendous creaking that could be heard down the block. no good. i took off the cranks, cleaned off all of the grease, and reinstalled the cranks. the creaking was gone forever.

greasing bb spindles is a very debatable subject in the mechanics world; i hear proponents for both sides all the time. as for me, no grease, please.

Dogbait

This is from the Park Tool bottom bracket repair help section on their web site.

"It can sometimes happen a bottom bracket can creak where the lockring or cups meet the bearing body. To prevent this, apply a thread locking compound such as Loctite #242 to the inside area of removable ring, where it meets the body. This will help prevent any creaking in the future. With plastic rings, do not apply any thread locking compound."

There is also a lengthy discussion of creaking drivetrains.

Creaking Drivetrains

FYI: Loctite #242 is the blue stuff.

Dogbait

g.brew

solution: remove cranks, degrease spindle and crank arms with 91% isopropyl Alcohol, re-install, eat apple pie, smoke two cigarettes and then go riding with the chaosarmada. chaosarmada.com, be sure and check it out if youre in the WDC area.

slagjumper

Try a thin walled 6 pointed socket and a long breaker bar. I've had to really tichgten the crank bolt to get some cranks to stop creaking.