BB bearing mount woes

Ted Bennett said:

I seek the wisdom of the hive. . .

I have a twenty-two year old bike, which I like and would like to
continue to use. It's a welded steel Fat Chance, and the BB spindle is
carried on two "sealed" bearings and located laterally by collars. The
bearings orinally were pressed into the BB shell but over the years have
developed a slight looseness between the bearing and the BB shell,
manifested as a slight rocking and clicking with each pedal stroke. Not
really a functional problem but is irritating and is slowly worsening.

The bearings themselves are fine, and replacing them won't solve this.

I tried installing metal foil around the bearings in an attempt to make
them fit tighter, which did work but only for a short time until it was
ejected, likely by precession.

A (not bicycle) mechanic suggested staking the mounting, by deforming
the mount with a punch and hammer. That sounded somewhat destructive,
so I declined that advice.

Filling with bronze and recutting the seats would work fine but would
ruin the paint and be more costly than I would like.

Suggestions appreciated.

--
Ted Bennett

retaining compound?
http://www.use-enco.com/CGI/INSRIT?PMAKA=825-8240&PMPXNO=949330&PARTPG=INLMK32

Loctite 270 Stud and Bearing Mount.

"Ted Bennett" wrote: (clip) A (not bicycle) mechanic suggested staking the
mounting, by deforming the mount with a punch and hammer. That sounded
somewhat destructive, so I declined that advice.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
It's not destructive. It would probably fix it. It's the next best thing to
knurling, which you can't do.

Or use the proper grade of Loc-tite.

Ted Bennett said:

I seek the wisdom of the hive. . .

I have a twenty-two year old bike, which I like and would like to
continue to use. It's a welded steel Fat Chance, and the BB spindle is
carried on two "sealed" bearings and located laterally by collars. The
bearings orinally were pressed into the BB shell but over the years have
developed a slight looseness between the bearing and the BB shell,
manifested as a slight rocking and clicking with each pedal stroke. Not
really a functional problem but is irritating and is slowly worsening.

The bearings themselves are fine, and replacing them won't solve this.

I tried installing metal foil around the bearings in an attempt to make
them fit tighter, which did work but only for a short time until it was
ejected, likely by precession.

A (not bicycle) mechanic suggested staking the mounting, by deforming
the mount with a punch and hammer. That sounded somewhat destructive,
so I declined that advice.

Filling with bronze and recutting the seats would work fine but would
ruin the paint and be more costly than I would like.

Suggestions appreciated.

Not knowing how loose it is, outside-bicycles solutions for similar
problems include using a filler/lock such as StaBond/Loktite 262 or
cutting to the next available bearing case size or cutting larger to
allow a sleeve outside the case. Or of course merely knurling/ staking
the shell.

My remembrance of early Chris Chance frames (nice workmanship!) is that
the BB shell is kinda thin so there may not be a solution that's quick,
cheap, painless and permanent. On a thin shell, filling and recutting
may only start the process of the shell deforming all over again.
--
Andrew Muzi
www.yellowjersey.org
Open every day since 1 April, 1971