raleigh crank arm question
 

ok , so im about 95 % done with my raleigh sports restore, and i have question, i repacked the bearings in the bb, when i pedal i notice a little hiccup on the upswing on the non drive crank...

its almost like its catching on something, and its only when i pedal hard, my first thought is, the bearings are probably shot, i reused the originals, they didn't look to bad. but now im thinkin im going to have to go back in and replace em

thoughts?

Perhaps one of your cotters isn't seated properly. Can you wiggle the crank arms in relation to one another?

I would check the cotter first. Did you have the correct number of bearings? I have torn down many a Raleigh that was missing a bearing here and there.

Aaron :)

+1 Right number of bearings?? One problem with reusing bearings, if there were not the right number in there to begin with, you will not have the right number after rehab. I made this mistake years ago. And its easy to lose a bearing (or two).

I opened up one bike, it had eight ball bearings on one side, and nine on the other (should have had 11 on each side....)

Now, I never reuse bearings, replacement bearings are cheap, and given that they are probably 30 years old if not older, its time to replace them. New bb bearings run me about 50 cents for a bb....

But by all means, check the cotter pin first!

+1 on checking and or replacing the cotters.

ill check the cotters, i know i have 11 on each side... but i was hesistant to go in and replace before i asked the forum :)