Bottom bracket question
 

what type of crank can I put on this BB? Could I use a new squaretaper? Are there screws in this BB in the picture? Let me know what your thoughts and suggestions are. Thanks
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z...art/cb46_3.jpg

Yes
Yes
What?

Any idea if the bottom bracket is good?

no idea-but is there a screw in this BB. I see old frames with BB like this one on ebay and craigs but I have never dealt with one myself and was wondering if a screw is needed or attached to the picture-because I see no inlet for a screw to go-nor do I see a screw attached. I'm new to Bottom brackets.

I'd just buy a crankset and then buy the appropriate bottom bracket for it. Many cranksets require a specific spindle length for the correct chainline and there are several different bb/crankset interfaces including square taper, Isis and octalink. Buy a bottom bracket for your crankset rather than a crankset for your bottom bracket.

The picture isn't very sharp but it appears to be a "nutted" bottom bracket, that is there is a threaded stub that sticks out of the square taper and the crank arms are held on by nuts, not bolts.

You need to be aware of the type of square taper; there are two standards which are not exactly compatible. (JIS and ISO) Sheldon Brown has a page dedicated to this square taper JIS/ISO issue. So you need to tell us the type of bike this BB is on.

As already stated this cone-and-cup BB uses nuts to hold the cranks on the spindle. Also, as previously stated you might just want to purchase a brand new BB so resolving the chainline is not an issue. An added benefit to a new BB is that you could get a cartridge bearing BB; which (in theory) is a big improvement over cup-and-cone.

-Chry