Hi guys! I just bought a vintage 1975 Peugeot UE-18 mixte, and as I was "stripping" the frame from all the external parts, when I came across the bottom bracket and crankset, I had the most trouble! Getting all the components out, I basically kind of damaged the cranks' bolts and stuff.

As for the bottom bracket, I'm really not familiar with it. When I took it out, one part of the BB is still in the BB tube, and the bearings basically all came apart. Are the bearings only found in these vintage models? Would I still need to get a bottom bracket with bearings or could I use a more modern one?

Also for the cranks, what are some affordable, good quality cranksets? (for a 5-speed)

Sorry if these questions are super obvious! I'm still a little new at this. Any input/advice would be greatly appreciated!

I assume you're referring to loose balls vs modern sealed cartridges?

Yes, you can replace it with a sealed cartridge, with the caveat that your Peugeot is French threaded, and will require a French thread cartridge. Fortunately, Velo-Orange recently came out with one; before that you would have been SOL: https://www.velo-orange.com/grcrufrthbob.html

If your bike has a steel, cottered crank (1975 means this is likely) you will need to replace the crank as well. Any standard square-taper arms will fit on the Velo-Orange bottom bracket.

Otherwise, if you're on the cheap, just buy new balls for your existing bottom bracket, and ride and enjoy.

If you can show us a picture of the damage we can tell you if its still workable or not.