justthisguy1292

I was trying to take out a cartidge style bottom bracket out. I didn't want to wait to go to a bike shop and i didn't have the right tool. I tried to improvise. I tool a flat head screw driver and inserted it at an angle into the splines of the bottom bracket and tried to unscrew it by hitting the screwdriver with a hammer. i used a similar technique to get out a cup and cone style BB, but i wasn't so lucky this time. The side i was trying to unscrew was made out of plastic and broke apart when i hit it. Now the splines where the tool would fit are smashed to pieces on my floor. I figured since it was plastic i could just break it apart if i kept hitting it, but it hasn't worked out so well. now the ball bearings have plastic jammed in them so the bottom bracket is ruined. does anyone know how i can get this out? All i can think of is bringing it into a shop and seeing what they can do, or keep trying to break it, or try to melt it with a blow torch.

Gonzo Bob

Get the correct tool (note: there are two different spline sizes for Shimano cartridge BBs) and take out the BB from the drive side. Use a hack saw to remove the non-drive-side cup.

LarDasse74

First of all... STOP.

Go and get the tool. It is about $15, and you will use it again.

Most cartridge bottom brackets have a plastic 'adjustable' cup and a metal 'fixed' cup. Usually, the best way to install a cartridge bb is to tighten the fixed cup in place (there is a torque spec for these, but I always just put them "real tight"), then install and tighten the plastic adjustable cup. To disassemble, you would normally remove the adjustable cup then the fixed cup. However, there is no reason why you could not, with the correct tool, remove the fixed cup first, then the remains of the adjustable cup can be pried or twisted out with whatever tool you have. Then a quick trip to the bike shop so they can fix your BB threads, and you are ready to installt he new BB!

Good luck. And let this be a lesson to you... "A wrench will get you through times of no hammer better than ahammer will get you through times of no wrench."

tellyho

Yep. Some things you can do without the right tool. Removing a cartridge BB is not one of them.

Ex Pres 

To add another Old Saying to LD74's

When the tools not right, the guy's not bright.

cbchess

I just hope you haven't ruined the frame already!

justthisguy1292

thanks for the advice. i took it into a shop and they got it out despite there being nothing to grab onto. I should have bought the tool. it cost me $10 in labor for them to take it out and i didn't get the tool so it would have been more cost effective in the long run to just buy the tool.

CCrew

Yup. Live and learn Just remember this experience the next time you consider taking a hammer and (makeshift) chisel to something. Or Vice Grips.

jccaclimber

Now, buy the tool for the next time you need it, or at least remember next time you buy a BB, that you will need to buy a tool then.

Floyd

Yep, I tend to be a beater, but know that there are some things that require the 'tools of the trade'

noglider 

I bought the tool last week. It was so amazingly easy to take the bottom bracket out. It was so easy that I found it disconcerting. The "fixed cup" was not hard to take out. Is it supposed to be screwed in as tightly as real fixed cups were screwed in, or is that just not necessary?

DannoXYZ 

If you buy the tools on an as-needed basis, you'll eventually have all the tools necessary for overhauling the entire bike. And it won't cost you much more than $5-15 at a time.