Hello Everyone,

I've been working on a old french steel bicycle made by the manufacturer "Liberia". For all comparisons, it's like an old peugeot, with the all-steel frame, downtube shifters, etc. Basically, I know it's not worth a lot, but it's something I'd like to fix up as a sentimental thing.

I have been having some problems with the french-threaded bottom bracket (35mm x1) -there was a lot of play with the crank, and so forth. I took apart the whole assembly and have discovered that the two ball bearing retainers are completely shot. The bearings were contained in kind of semi-enclosed retainer. When I took them out with the spindle, there were loose ball bearings in the bottom of the bracket. Besides that, the threads of the spindle looked all right, without any big pits or anything that I could notice.

I have two questions: Would the lack of properly-operating ball bearings totally account for this incorrect movement of the entire bottom bracket and the crank? Also: I do realize that I may have to purchase new ball bearings for the bracket- where is a good place to purchase these? Do they still make them in this style, or will I have to change things up a little to make things work?

Thanks for any advice and direction.

you don't need those retainers, in fact you may find that loose balls will perform better (more contact area since you'll need to add 1 more ball to each side). Only trick is using heavy-bodied grease so the balls stay put when you put them in place. It's not the threads that will show pitting, it's the contact areas (where the balls touched) on the spindle and the cups. Chances are greater that the spindle will be pitted before the cups are.
You can get the grade 25, 1/4" balls at any LBS as well as many big hardware mail-order houses and bearing supplies (where they can be cheaper than LBS, especially in quantity).

Here is a bit of guidance for working on vintage bottom brackets. Hope it is a help...

https://www.mytenspeeds.com/My_TenSpe...ketRebuild.htm