Best tool to remove stuck bottom bracket
 

im getting into bike wrenching again. i tried working on my skills 2 yrs ago but i damaged a carbon frame as I was trying to remove a really stuck bottom bracket. the tool slipped off nder the pressure, it wouldn't budge at all with the small leverage I had. I ended up gouging the seat stay as it slipped off. So I sold my tools after that happened, $400 frame ruined. What out there has lots of leverage, I don't want a repeat LOL.

There is a tool, and you can improvise one with the right bolt and washers, to hold the BB socket on the splines. Similar to using a QR to hold a cassette removal tool on a cassette.

http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=94

this helps a lot. read the section on seized cups.

Get one of these: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/I...Full/14426.jpg to hold the splined tool in.

Then either the park klingon tool (this is a shop tool), or a hugeass bar. to go over the wrench for leverage. It also helps if you weld the bar to the splined tool (if you're doing this a lot).

Put the BB socket into a vise and put the frame on top of it. Turn the frame. This gives you massive leverage. So much leverage that you had better make sure you are turning the bike in the right direction, otherwise you will cross-thread the BB and then you have a new problem.

If you don't have vise, use a breaker bar. If you don't have a breaker bar, use a normal socket handle with a pipe over the end of it. But the vise is the best bet in terms of not slipping.

Tnt

+1 vise, vise, vise

The vise thing works, but try the above pictured bolt first. (Actually, I just got a normal metric bolt from the hardware store to do the same thing.) It will solve a lot of problems.

If that does not work, try Sheldon's trick. He described it somewhere in his pages. It is a strong bolt and stack of washers and a nut. As it cranks down on the face of the BB, it puts a ton of torque on it and that baby will move.

jim

Securing the tool is really important and having a lever makes what seems impossible, possible.

After stuck seat posts, this can be one of the toughest jobs there is if you don't have the right tools... mind you...we did a pedal removal today that required the vice, a snipe for the pedal wrench, and the blue wrench (torch).

For a Steel or aluminum frame Oil is your friend.
Pre-soaking can really help move a stuck bottom bracket.
After the soaking, putting the BB tool into the splines and tapping can help break a rusty seal.

But for real power, the vice/bb tool think is the best.

However if you don't have a vice then securing the frame in a stand with the BB placed very near the clamp is also a good way to get some stability when you're torquing out the BB.

The BB tool, a crank-bolt and a large washer should keep the BB tool from slipping out when you're using a adjustable wrench.

You haven't mentioned what kind of bottom bracket.

If it's a Shimano cartridge bottom bracket you'll be surprised at how much better a genuine Shimano tool works than it's Park counterpart. The Shimano tool sets much closer to the bike so it tips less and doesn't disengage as easily as the Park.

I've also had to resort to the BB tool in the vise trick a few times. That has never failed me.

I often use an impact wrench. I have a Lifu splined shimano type tool, which looks like an impact quality tool, in my 1/2 drive pneumatic impact wrench. I've pulled a few threads out when I removed a 10 year old BB from my aluminum framed Giant, but I think that could have happened no matter how I turned the spline tool. Rusty BB in an Al frame can never be good. It has worked like a champ on the other frames I've used this technique on. Make sure you have the rotation correct.

Disclaimer: I am not a professional bike mechanic. I do my own wrenching.

Also, I've never touched a carbon frame. What are the fittings usually made of on a carbon frame? Aluminum? (by fittings, I'm talking about the BB shell, head tube, etc.)

The vice technique is completely inferior to using a bolt to hold the splined tool in. With the vice method you still have no way of retaining the tool on the bike and you are limited by the leverage by the length of the bike.

The only thing that keeps the bike on the tool is the weight of the bike - for stubborn bb's, this just won't work.

It's never failed me, in fact, it surprises me how easily the BB comes loose. When I resort to using it, however, I always get somebody to help me keep the bike level.

Yes, buy a cheap hex-head M13 x45 metric bolt with the fine pitch and a washer (bring your bb with you to compare the threads). It will hold the bb tool connected to the bb.
But this works only for square taper.

Even the trusty VAR BP 03000 was no match for a seriously stuck Campy fixed cup!

That is, until I soaked the BB cup with WD40 for 2 weeks, then got a friend to help. He torqued the handles whilst I wailed with a dead blow hammer.

It finally came loose with no damage anywhere...except my VAR tool handle! :eek:

:rolleyes:

what? you don't use the vise without attaching the bb tool to the bb. i use a skewer to hold the tool to the bb, clamp the tool on the vise, then use the frame as a lever to loosen the seized bb. used this method yesterday to get an 8 yr old bb off a mtb. first tried to attach the tool to the bb with the skewer and use a 12" adjustable wrench and it just wouldn't budge no mater how much i leaned into it. took it to my lbs a block and a half a way, used their vise, mission accomplished.

I use the crank bolt through a fender washer to hold the tool on. I have a socket sized to fit the tool and a 25" breaker bar with that. Have yet to fail.

Yeah, you can use the attachment method and the vise at the same time. You don't have to if you are careful, but with an expensive frame I would take no chances.

Remember, turning a bike by the frame gives enough leverage to snap most u-locks and also some bike racks. You get an insane amount of leverage.

I'm proud to say that I have removed a stuck bottom bracket with a hacksaw. Totally suggest a different route than what I took a long time ago, but it worked well. Old campy BB, cut it in half, chiseled it out with a punch.

Here's another 'hack' job. Boys and girls, don't do this at home.
:D

http://cgi.ebay.com/Shimano-exage-40...sid=p1638.m122

:roflmao:

I'll say he "cheated"! :rolleyes: Good thing the frame was already damaged. :p

The pedro's bb tool holder and a huge 4' cheater bar (or longer)

Oh, another suggestion, a preventative measure...
When having to tackle stuck or seized frame parts, use some foam pipe insulation to cover and protect the frame from mishaps. They are cheap, comes in diameters to slip onto every tube. Secure with duct tape. Gives you some insurance when the big wrench or cheater bar slips.

A great way to ship $$$ frames too.

I did the same thing as well. It was a VERY delicate procedure, but I pulled it off successfully.
I really wish this thread was around last year before I ended up resorting to that though.
-Bill