WilliamK1974

My bikes are getting older, and I don't recall ever cleaning and repacking their bottom brackets.

Now, the bike repair guides mention the tools that are required for the job, such as crank removers and those tools that actually unscrew the front of the brackets.

Is there a way to do this job without any specialized tools? I'm not ruling their purchase out, but I'd have to save up for a bit. I know that doing things the right way is often best, but like to know about other alternatives if possible. I have a decent assortment of hand tools for working on my cars.

Thank you,
-Bill

joejack951

If you didn't care about scratching the crank arms, you could probably pull them off with a 2 arm gear puller. The bottom bracket lockring could probably be loosened with a hammer and punch although you will butcher the lockring so the point where the real tool will no longer fit and you risk hitting the bottom bracket shell. Retightening would have the same effect. Bike tools are so cheap compared to automotive specialty tools that it hardly ever makes sense to not use the real tool.

moxfyre

You absolutely DO need the crank puller tool to remove cotterless cranks. There is simply no other way to remove them that doesn't risk significant damage to the crank and/or BB spindle (hint: crowbar, or removing the nuts and then pedaling until the cranks fall off). You can get a perfectly good crank puller for $5-10, it's a must.

As for the bottom bracket cups and lockrings: you can usually get away with a large adjustable wrench, and a hammer and old flathead screwdriver. Having the appropriate lockring wrench will cost about $15, and makes the job faster and easier. But you CAN tighten and loosen the lockring with a hammer and screwdriver... do it SLOWLY and carefully. Frankly, I did about 10 cup-and-cone BBs this way without problems, then finally bought a lockring wrench.

By the way, modern cartridge BBs mostly use the same universal tool which is only $5-10. It may well be worth it to junk your old C&C BBs in favor of new ones, since you can get a looong-lasting maintenance free square-taper cartridge BB for $15-20.

DMF 

+1

(except for the bit about replacing the BB with a cartridge)

Pipe wrench (or - not as good - big channel-lock) is better than the hammer/screwdriver for the lockring. And since you can use it one-handed, it makes setting the pre-load much more easy and accurate.

moxfyre

I used to think this was a waste, but cartridge BBs last years without maintenance, while C&C BBs need an overhaul after 6 months of commuting... so I really think it's often just much more effective to replace them.

Good idea! Although using a pipe wrench is likely to gall and scratch the lockring up a fair bit... then again the hammer and screwdriver dents it a bit too.

WilliamK1974

Not sure why this never occured to me, but I didn't know that special bike tools were so much cheaper than their auto counterparts. It's not like I've looked at them before.

So a cartridge BB should be available for pretty much any bike, including older ones?

cerewa

William-- hopefully your bike has a standard "english" thread BB rather than french or italian or "old raleigh" or something. If it's a standard BB threading then almost any BB will fit in, and then you'll want to pick a square-taper one.

I'm a fan of the cartridge BB's because they are so easy to put in and they do last. I paid $5 for a cartridge-BB tool and $5 for a crank puller. $10 well spent, if you ask me. It's challenging or impossible to substitute other tools for those two without damaging your parts, but the pipe-wrench-on-old-BB sounds like a good idea to me. (especially if you're going to get rid of the old BB).

operator

+5 billiong

You really aren't going to remove cranks without considerable effort or damaging somethign wtihout a crank puller. And since the tool is $10 or less there really is NO effing reason not to buy it.

HillRider

Well, it's not like a cup-and-cone bb is a lifetime purchase. Even with good maintenance, the spindle and cups do pit and score and are discarded after a reasonable service life, often more frequently than a good cartridge. C&C bottom brackets are every bit as "disposable" as cartridges but need more work in the interim.

WilliamK1974

One bike's a Schwinn from 1990, one's a Huffy Jackal, and the other's a GT Outpost Trail from 1998.

smendoza

Very informative post. I've got a bike an 89' Cannondale road bike, I have no way to know how much it has been ridden, but I think it is safe to say that the bottom bracket has never been replaced. Is it safe to say that the the BB is probably due to be replaced? Are there any symptoms to look for that can clue me in to a worn out bb?

moxfyre

The professional-grade bike tools largely come from Park Tool, at least in the USA, and they are fairly expensive. But for home use, there are a lot of cheaper brands, and in my experience they work great... one of the main differences from the pro stuff is that they don't always have ergonomic handles, but that's not gonna be an issue unless you are using them 100 times a day

As has been pointed out, cartridge BBs are easy to find for English-thread bikes (which would include essentially any bike made in the US, Britain, Japan, Taiwan, or China). If you have an Italian-made bike, it almost certainly has an Italian-thread BB, which you MAY be able to find a cartridge BB for. If you have a French or Belgian bike, then you're pretty much SOL... the only cartridge BBs for these bikes are the very expensive Phil Wood models

For the details of the different BB threadings, see https://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_bo-z.html#bottom (English thread is mechanically superior, and is used in nearly all bikes produced today.)

HillRider

A couple of observations. A lot of Italian makers have converted to English threading in the past 10 - 15 years so even an Italian frame may be English threaded. Older ones, say pre-1990, are almost certainly Italian. I think the boutique Italian makers (Colnago, etc.) still use Italian threads but I can't confirm this.

You can find plenty of currently made Italian threaded cartridge bottom brackets in square taper, Octalink, ISIS and the various external bearing types. Your LBS may not stock them but they are easy to order from QBP and other distributors or mail order from Performance, Colorado Cyclist and others.

moxfyre

That's a good point. Recent Bianchis definitely use English BBs, though I am not sure if they are actually made in Italy anymore. The Campy-clad Colnagos I've seen definitely still have Italian threads.

Sheldon Brown's shop should be a reliable source of square-taper Italian cartridge BBs: https://sheldonbrown.com/harris/botto...s.html#shimano $25 for a UN-53. For English cartridge BBs, I have had good results with the $15 model from Nashbar: https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...tom%20Brackets (actually made by TH Industries, which makes a lot of OEM headsets and BBs).

operator

No it is not safe.

1) If it's a loose ball BB, pull the unit and inspect the races for pitting (with a ballpoint pen)
2) If it's sealed cart, check for play, if there is unit needs to be tossed and replaced

cerewa

When it comes to bottom brackets, the saying "if it ain't broke don't fix it" applies.

If you don't have symptoms of a problem, don't worry about it. If the BB makes "crunch crunch" noises, is too loose, or doesn't allow the cranks to spin easily when pushed by hand, then you need to replace or adjust.

DMF 

Oh sure. I mean don't replace a perfectly good cup-and-cone just because you can. Ride it till it needs replacing, even if you don't do any maintenance.