A Story about Seized BB Cups

Alan

That was called a Kingsbridge tool. My old Third Hand catalog listed one for about $30, if I
recall right.

--

alan

Anyone who believes in a liberal media has never read the "Daily Oklahoman."

"Kenny Lee" <kentw@ksts.seed.net.tw> wrote in message news:atnopv$75g$1@news.seed.net.tw...
> Was out on one of my daily rides when I noticed that the lateral play from my cranks had gotten
> noticeably worse. A year and a half ago the lateral play was 0.2mm. Now it was 2.0mm. I really
> dreaded the thought of having to disassemble the BB because I know I had already just about
> stripped the drive side cup splines flat the last time I tried to get at the BB(failed attempt).
> The non-drive side cup was in worse condition, the splines being worn down by the bb spindle
> thrashing about. The moment of truth had arrived, I was gonna get my cherry popped on this job.
> Two weeks ago successfully rebuilt my rear boutique wheel, albeit with a lot of trial an error.
> Learned to find tune the derailleur system, more trial and error. And now this. My first reaction
> was to take my bike to the big city and have a well known LBS proprietor give it a go. What a pain
> that would be 220km one way and no assurances that it will succeed. My friend a locksmith by trade
> and a bike fiend/tinkerer said bring the bike on over and let me give it a try. My thoughts were
> upon hearing this was, "this guy can pick locks maybe he can figure this out." At his shop he
> began with the drive side cup first because the other side's splines were in worse shape. Angling
> the BBT-5 tool so it could catch hold of whatever was left of the BB cup spline we managed to
> wrench it out of the BB shell part way so that about a quarter inch of cup was extended out from
> the BB shell. At that point we used vise grips and clamped onto it and cranked the sucker out.
> Took about 40 minutes. Some brown water came dribbling out (rust) and when we popped the BB out
> little ball barings spilled out. The BB itself came out of the bike dismembered. My friend said it
> was toast. Actually, when it first came out it looked more like a turd with all that rust and gunk
> on it. Now for the non-drive side cup. There was no way the BBT-5 was gonna work on it. Nothing to
> grip onto. Tried to pound it out with a screwdriver and hammer. All we got for our troubles were
> metal shavings on the floor. We gave up after 2 hours of pounding on it. We thought about putting
> the saw to it but decided that it would be too chancy being that the bike was an expensive CF one
> (I chickened out). Was going to box it up and have it shipped to a professional frame builder when
> I remembered that there was one LBS in town which I never went to because all he has is Giant
> stuff and Shimano. What the heck it wouldn't hurt seeking his opinion. Well the owner said he'd
> need to have a look at it before he can make a determination. He told me to bring the frame in the
> next morning. I was sure he was he wasn't up to the job. The next morning I bring the frame in.
> While he's looking it over I'm wondering where the FedEx office is, what's the turnaround time
> gonna be etc. The owner mentions things like we can soak it in "xyz" solution for a couple of days
> maybe this will loosen the bond, or we can saw it out. And then on the other hand...(he gets up to
> go into the back storage room). Hey what's that? I ask. You know, he says, I haven't taken this
> out in 15 odd years. Park makes a similar one, he says. I didn't know what I was looking at at the
> time but now I recognize it as a tool for facing and threading the BB shell. It was all rusty
> looking and it was custom built too (cheaper that way). It had the mechanics of a table vise only
> the opposing ends were cylindrical and moved independent of each other with their own wrenching
> handles. With one end of device squishing the outside of the cup and the opposite end of the
> device pushing the cup from the inside and turning the handles in the correct direction the cup
> eased out of the frame. Needless to say I was awestruck. I asked him how much. Forget it, he says,
> free. Cool dude, I'll be back that's for sure. Now if only he carried Phil Wood BBs.
>
> Kenny Lee