aaronbowles

I have an Iron Horse Warrior and I have only had it about 4 months and I now get a bad creaking sound when pushing down hard on the left peddal. It happens mostly when I am standing up or going up hills. I can hear it when I am just riding aroun slowly and I stand up and put heavy pressure on the pedal like if I were going up a hill or something... I can sometimes get it to stop by putting a little grease on the crank bolt but then it will eventually come back...
Anyone got any ideas, I can see that noises from the BB are pretty common but there are so many things that seem to cause them...**********??

moxfyre

Usually the problem is either:
- the crank isn't attached tightly to BB spindle (which can cause the crank to get worn down, and make the squeaking worse)
- or the BB isn't in the frame tightly enough

You say that putting grease on the crank bolt fixes it temporarily, which makes it sound like the crank isn't tight enough. Do you have hex or allen crank bolts? Either way, get the biggest wrench of the appropriate type that you can find, and tighten that bolt down good.

cousincletus

Take the bike back to the shop and explain. They should fix for free. I had the same problem (except click instead of creak) and the bike shop removed the BB cartridge and greased the threads. They can also use teflon tape w/same results. If you bought online or mail order, get the special tool for removing the cartridge

aaronbowles

I have the allen bolts and I have tried tightening it down and it gets tight but I can never get it to stop turning, it almost acts like it is striped out but it doesn't look that way.
And does any one know if I need the synth grease or will regular petro. based auto axel grease work??

moxfyre

Regular auto grease or white lithium grease should be fine. Marine wheel bearing grease is considered by many to be the best for bicycle applications, and it's cheap too.

Do NOT put grease on the spindle taper! Put grease on the threads of the bolt and the threads of the BB cartridge.