K
Kenny Lee
Guest
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
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
