Bottom bracket clicking...
 

I am cleaning and rebuilding my Raleigh, and I have a light clicking noise in the bottom bracket. It does not seem to be at a particular point in rotation. The bottom bracket is a Campy Nuovo Record. The spindle and cups look fine and I did try the ball point pen test on them and didn't notice anything. New bearings (loose, 11 1/4" per side) as well. Since it appeared that the frame had never had the bottom bracket faced, I went ahead and had that done yesterday ($40), but no change.

The clicking occurs when I put the crank arms on and spin it (no chain, no pedals on, pretty much bare frame in the work stand). I think I may have heard this the last couple of times I rode, but put it down to shift lever or derailleur misadjustment (friction shifting). It sounds kind of like the light noise you hear when you need to trim the shift lever a touch.

I've had the bottom bracket apart numerous times since I noticed this, and recleaned everything. Should I use some fine (000 or 0000) steel wool on the cups and cone areas of the spindle? I had the drive side arm and chainrings apart, and everything is tight. I may pull the chainrings and see if it does it bare.

are the balls loose in a retainer? I would try new balls without the retainer. does it feel tight when it clicks?

I believe he stated he isn't using a retainer.

is it just noise from the grease as it works around

Are the cranks tightened down correctly?

+1 on that as a first check - Ive had a clicking sound (usually under load) that turned out to be loose cranks on the spindle more than once.

Crank bolts should be checked after the first few rides when the bike is first built, also chainring bolts should checked too.

I've had the arms on and off several times, and yes, they are tightened correctly. Loose balls (and this is the first time I have used loose in the BB). Bearings came from Lickton's (IIRC). Should be grade 25.

I don't feel any tight spots in rotation, but being a bottom bracket, it does not turn as easily as a hub would for instance. I've adjusted loose, tight and in between to see if the clicks go away and they do not. Current adjustment was just until no play was felt (after lock ring tightening).

I tore it apart again and am cleaning everything in mineral spirits, including the caged bearings and the loose balls. I will inspect the cups and races (again) and maybe either polish them with light 0000 steel wool or maybe even use a bit of Simichrome on them?

What is the current thought regarding lubing the crank arm/spindle? I know Campy recommends dry, but that company whose name escapes me (begins with an "S" I think) does recommend grease on the tapers IIRC.

Is the front derailleur installed? Any chance that DS crank arm is ticking against the FD on each rotation?

Neal

It is now, but wasn't at first. Still clicked, and did on a bare frame (well, headset and fork were installed, but nothing else).

If it were me, I'd swap another bottom bracket in, if even temporarily, to see if that's where the problem is.

Neal

Problem is, I don't really have one. Well, I do with a thin cup spindle and thick cups. Maybe I'll toss that in and see what happens. Here are some pics:

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=196054
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=196055
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=196056
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=196057

Apologies as I kinda suck as a photographer.

i've had an identical issue with a SunTour SUPERBE Pro BB and it went away after a ride or two, i think it may have something to do with how the grease is spread inbetween the bearings, cups and spindle.

I would just swap it out for a new BB just to see.

Maybe there is something in the frame that resonates with the small vibrations in the BB, making the noise louder?

Kind of a similar thing here. I just put the BB back in the Centurion mixte rebuild I've got going. Everything looked very clean when I disassembled it, so I have not even changed the bearings. [shame] But there is an occasional slight kind of slushing sound from the drive side. I opened it up, made sure all the bearings were present (they were), added some grease and reseated them, added some more grease for good measure, and put everything back together. Sound is the same, possibly a bit less. I did apply grease to the spindle.

The spinning is easy and smooth with the BB adjusted for no slop. This is not exactly a high performance bike so I'm not going to go crazy over a little occasional noise but...

[edit to add: you guessed it, I went back to the basement. 'Remember honey, we have Susan's party tonight!' 'Yeah, I'll just be a minute!' Removed the L crankarm, spun off the lockring and adjustable cup, looked inside, pulled out the plastic sleeve, put the cup back on, spun it some, pulled the cup, put the sleeve back in, tightened the cup and lockring back down, crank back on...and it's fine. It sounds like ball bearings spinning in grease. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it. ]

ps: sorry for the threadjack, Pars. Good luck with yours!

Obvious, but this is with grease?

Have you tried shaking the parts (cups, axle, crank arms) individually and off the bike?

Whenever I rebuild that style of BB, I reuse the ball retainer. I carefully push out all the old balls being carefull not to bend any reatining arms. After everything is clean I push in new grade 25 bearing balls, grease, install, and set preload. You should have NO NOISE, if you are using loose balls,it's very easy to knock one out while installing the adjustable cup. Then you have to take everything apart, and start over.

Seem to have sorted this out. I put the other BB I have in (thin cup 68-SS spindle with thick cups, along with a spacer on the fixed cup... ebay buying mistake :)). I used a set of balls in retainers. Result: no noise

Swapped in the original 68-SS-120 spindle after removing spacer on fixed cup. Result: no noise

Swapped in original fixed cup. Result: no noise

Swapped in original adj. cup. Result: no noise

Two things I noticed were a bit of noise from the workstand on the seatpost, and a bit of what I would term grease noise. The noise I was hearing yesterday sounded like bearing balls hitting each other. I had verified each time that the balls were in properly. I don't see much advantage to going with loose bearings here as you cannot fit an additional bearing in. I guess I'll use Michael Angelo's tip of replacing the balls in the retainer next time I need to do this.

And no problem tacking onto the thread Al; very similar issue. Thanks for all the thoughts!