bottom bracket woes again....dummy question

[nuovo_record]

i've stripped my daughters bike so i can get the frame painted, it's got a conventional cup and cone BB.
the non-drive came out easy peasy.
drive side however no chance....not even the larger than life adjustable i have.
so if i put the shell upside down in a vice, which way do i turn the frame? still clockwise?

[Jurek]

I reckon drive side will be conventional.
So drive side will come out by turning the frame anti-clockwise.
Upside down isn't relevant.

[nuovo_record]

I reckon drive side will be conventional.
So drive side will come out by turning the frame anti-clockwise.
Upside down isn't relevant.

i thought that drive side was the other way around?
didn't thinnk upside was relevant, but it's been going through my mind all day!

[hatler]

Pedal threads are handed the same as the side they are on.

Bottom bracket cups are the reverse.

Drive side cup should therefore be a LH thread.

[Brucey]

yup RH BB cup is on a left-handed thread.
 
So if you have the BB cup in a bench vice and the LH side of the frame is uppermost, you need to turn the frame clockwise to loosen the BB cup.

cheers

[Jurek]

I reckon drive side will be conventional.
So drive side will come out by turning the frame anti-clockwise.
Upside down isn't relevant.

One of my rubbish moments 

[Tim Hall]

And if/when the tool slips on the flats, go for the Sheldon Big Nut 'n' Bolt method. Comme ça. Scroll down to fixed cup tools. I use M12 in place of his Imperial stuff.

[Torslanda]

You need a **VERY GOOD** vice. Preferably immovably fixed to a bench which itself is immovably fixed to the building it is in¹. There must be no slop in the vice jaws. And, yes, you turn the frame clockwise . . .<sup>2



1</sup>DAHIKT

²If your frame was 'assembled' somewhere not noted as a hotbed of bike production and/or is a make somewhat out of the mainstream be prepared for the drive side cup to have been cross threaded.  Again, DAHIKT!

[greenmeansgo]

Failing that, there is a possibly destructive method which involved an old wheel axle. Tighten two nuts on it to act as a lock nut. Place inside BB shell from NDS. Attached a nut on the end of the axle which is now sticking out the drive side. Tighen that nut and it will clamp on to the cup. Keep tightening and it should undo the BB cup.

[nuovo_record]

thanks for the ideas, I'd like to try bold and nut method but worried that it won't work and the cup will be shagged meaning no use at all.
sort of tempted to leave it in place and make sure all bearing are new and well greased when I put it back together.
I'm taking the cowards approach! I thought my BB woes would be over after I finally did the MTB with scaffold pole too.

[greenmeansgo]

It shouldn't knacker the bearing surfaces so might be worth a try?

[Tim Hall]

thanks for the ideas, I'd like to try bold and nut method but worried that it won't work and the cup will be shagged meaning no use at all.
sort of tempted to leave it in place and make sure all bearing are new and well greased when I put it back together.
I'm taking the cowards approach! I thought my BB woes would be over after I finally did the MTB with scaffold pole too.

The nut and bolt method is beautiful in its simplicity, and as noted by greenmeansgo, the bearing surfaces are very hard, harder than the bolt, so will/should be OK.

[greenmeansgo]

I meant more that the part the bolt will bite into (i.e. nearest the centre of the bb shell) is not the bearing surface, which is closer to the outside of the shell. The technique does require that the bolts/cups are of a compatible size.

[nuovo_record]

using the bolt and nut method (M12 size) i gave it a go, but the washer against the nut has concaved into the hole.
should i have persivered just that little bit more?

[Brucey]

M12 isn't really big enough IMHO; the nut is almost going through the hole in some cups.

M16 or a 5/8" thread would be about right, and with bolts of this size the washer isn't squashed into a funny shape.

BTW if a BB cup is averagely tight, it may need about 300ftlbs to shift it. I think I had to use over 500ftlbs on one bike; I thought that I was going to break something, but somehow I managed to avoid it....

cheers

[nuovo_record]

tried the vice method today and after the intitial give it came out easily......yes, great, super.
so it's off for sand blasting followed by a coat of RAL 6021

[Pedaldog.]

left hand pedal, left hand thread.
right side bottom bracket, left hand thread.....  Prolly!

[nuovo_record]

frame back from powder coating, had to rob my bear valley for the BB!
it's almost a bianchi green?
daughters pleased

[Torslanda]

Ver', ver', nice.