Am i extra hard on bottom brackets ??

levitronix

Right here goes on my summer bike i swapped out he bottom ultegra at about 3500km when it started to creek on my right foot pedal stroke , i know kinda strange only on one side, before anyone gets off everything was tight and as it soon be on the cranks.

So i cleaned out the old bottom bracket with some chain cleaner spray and soaked it in some lube for a couple days popped it into my winter bike and its lasted till now about another 3000km and now the creaking is driving me nuts on that bike time for a new one..

So my question is am i hard on bottom brackets cos my friends dont have this problem or is it maybe i have a slightly irregular pedal stroke causing them to wear out?

blorg

levitronix wrote: »

So i cleaned out the old bottom bracket with some chain cleaner spray and soaked it in some lube for a couple days popped it into my winter bike and its lasted till now about another 3000km and now the creaking is driving me nuts on that bike time for a new one..

That doesn't sound like it would be good for the BB, they need grease around the bearings not liquid lube, spraying the chain cleaner in there would only serve to help strip this out.

Modern ones generally use sealed bearings and are not designed to be serviced, what type is it?

niceonetom

You're probably just unlucky...

Are you talking about hollowtech ultegra BBs? Because I don't think they're intended to be serviceable. The degreaser may not have been a good move.

levitronix

ultega hollowtech, funny thing was when i sprayed the cleaner in lots of grit and crap came out, dumped into a heavy oil in work dont know which one then popped it into the other bike with some copper grease.

About two years ago on a differnet bike i got the LBS to swap out the bottom brackte after it was creeking after about 4000km !! creeking mostly on the right side when pushing hard on the pedal stroke

levitronix

It ticks or creeks at about 2 o clock on the right side when you push down on the pedal

niceonetom

Shimano would not be happy to hear of your exploits.

levitronix wrote: »

It ticks or creeks at about 2 o clock on the right side when you push down on the pedal

Check the pedal spindle for tightness in the crankarm and bearing in the pedal itself. I've had a ticking BB that turned out to be a pedal issue.

DirkVoodoo

Hollowtech bearings don't run freely, this is part of the design. They will not spin freely, it's just the viscosity between the bearing seal and the packing grease. For the love of God please don't go spraying them with degreaser! Like Tom says, they are not serviceable!

Don't overtighten the little black dustcap either, this seems to be a common oversight. It only requires something like 0.7 to 1 Nm, basically nothing. Tightening it can load the bearings and wear them down.

levitronix

lmaoo it ticks even differnet pedals

DirkVoodoo

Did you put the copper grease on the threads or try and get it under the seals? It's fine for threads, not so fine for lubricating.

levitronix

Just on the threads thats all , think i just might of had bad luck on last two bottom brackets as for the plastic dust cap thats finger tight cos id never get it back off again , well anyway i ve spent a wopping 16 euro now on new one so problem will be gone this weekend , i might note the km's and see how long this one lasts

blorg

For what it's worth I get a lot longer out of my Hollowtech BBs. In fact I have not yet needed to replace one.

Ryaner

I've 10000km on my road bike and have been through 2 BBs over that time.

One did have a run in with some flood water which dropped its life span down quite a bit.

While the hollowtech stuff isn't serviceable per say, I was able to remove noise from mine by cleaning the muck/grease off with paper towels and applying another generous amount of grease inside the bearing where the spindle contacts it. However if you've used degreaser, the lube inside the bearing is probably gone. If the crank rocks, then the bearings are shot.