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stuck bottom bracket

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Old 09-08-05 | 04:37 PM
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stuck bottom bracket

ok all, bottom bracket is stuck. that sucker aint goin nowhere. but it needs replacing cause it's all sorts of messed up. tips/suggestions as for removal method?
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Old 09-08-05 | 04:46 PM
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Cartridge or loose bearing? More details please.

The funnest and most spectacular I was recently involved with entailed heating the fixed cup with some kind of super hot torch. Probably not recommended as a first choice option.
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Old 09-08-05 | 05:12 PM
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If it's cup and cone style, are you sure you're working on the adjustable side and not the fixed cup?

If it's a cartridge unit, make sure that you work on whatever side the adjustable ring is. Some models have the fixed side with the flange on the drive side, some NDS. Phil has no flanged side at all. Of course if you can't get one side to go, you can work on the other side. I believe if you have a new Shimano with the plastic ring, you should always work on the metal side.

If you're doing all that and it's still not working, get a long bolt or piece of threaded rod (hint: old nutted axles are often the right size) and bolt it through the top of the BB tool so that the bolt cap/a threaded on nut will keep the tool in place and not slipping out.

Now get your favorite way-too-big wrench and a cheater bar if you got it. Go to town. A few whacks with a hammer on the handle can often break the corrosion that's holding the thing in place.

I was in a shop once. They had this bike with a Phil BB in there with the recommended loctite. They had a 6-foot bar on the end of the wrench and still could barely get the damn thing to budge.
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Old 09-08-05 | 08:03 PM
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my solution for a stuf bottom bracket was a cheater bar. i got a 15 foot piece of hollow steel tubing that was flattenned at the end (part of a fence or something) and was able to fit it to the end of my bottom bracket tool, giving me an enormous mchanical advantage. my buddy helped to make sure the fulcrum end didnt slip.
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Old 09-08-05 | 08:12 PM
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i had a similar occurance and took it in after having zero luck with the Sheldon method and a variety of other techniques, I took it in and Marcus at Yojimbo's had it off in seconds with that special tool for popping fixed cups free.
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Old 09-08-05 | 08:22 PM
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Old 09-08-05 | 08:55 PM
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Get an old steel three pin cottered crank, if you're lucky like I was, the BCD will line up perfectly with the Park Tool fixed cup remover. Put a bolt through the crank and tool, also clamp the crank and tool and BB together. Now you can throw the crank arm into a table vice, and just grab the frame at the head tube and give it a twist. Piece of cake.
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Old 09-08-05 | 11:25 PM
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Originally Posted by Erich Zann
my solution for a stuf bottom bracket was a cheater bar. i got a 15 foot piece of hollow steel tubing that was flattenned at the end (part of a fence or something) and was able to fit it to the end of my bottom bracket tool, giving me an enormous mchanical advantage. my buddy helped to make sure the fulcrum end didnt slip.
Did you have an arrangement with your buddy to pay for his broken teeth should things have gone badly?
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Old 09-09-05 | 01:48 PM
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actually one time I was doing it I cracked a old campy fixed cup. i dont think there was much danger of the bar getting up in his face if it slipped.
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Old 09-09-05 | 02:07 PM
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if you plan to remove it mechanically, be sure to dose it with a penetrating oil (i use liquid wrench) beforehand - like the night before, to give it time to work.
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Old 09-09-05 | 04:23 PM
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Old 09-09-05 | 10:31 PM
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Originally Posted by cicadashell
if you plan to remove it mechanically, be sure to dose it with a penetrating oil (i use liquid wrench) beforehand - like the night before, to give it time to work.
I was just faced with a stuck bottom bracket (4 yrs of winter salt=bad), and had good luck pouring a bit of motor oil down the seat tube the night before as well- gets all the threads from the inside.

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Old 09-10-05 | 11:14 PM
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Originally Posted by frameteam2003
You see, that's why I don't like to be distracted while working on my bike. It's too easy to mess up the torch heat settings and pass over "molten lava" and set the temperature instead to "surface of the sun".

Or "11".
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Old 09-11-05 | 12:32 AM
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I used the Sheldon Brown method just last week. I used a 15" crescent wrench with a 1 foot long cheater made of 2"ABS pipe to turn the tool and it came right out. You can find complete instructions for assembling and using the tool HERE

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