Why would a bottom bracket have 8 ball bearings in a cage for 9

[Gattopardo]

Have a bso that I'm tinkering with, finally taken the bottom bracket apart and found that the ball bearings are caged, but have 8 ball bearings when there is space for 9.  So one ball bearing is missing on each side.

Is that normal?

[Peter]

My guess is that the previous tinkerer felt the balls themselves needed changing but only had 16 spares and didn't want to wait to get others.  If you haven't got replacements, and the current ones seem ok, just grease and replace, I would have thought.  It's just possible that having a bearing missing might cause a structural weakness in the race and it might crack but it's hard to see where it would go from there as it is pretty well supported anyway.  But if it's not urgent then replace at leisure.

Someone who knows what they are talking about will be along in a minute - and they'll probably be Australian!

All the best

Peter

[mzjo]

Don't ask any questions, no time for doubt. Dump the cages, save the balls if they look worth the effort and fit loose balls held in by grease during reassembly. Probably 11 a side. Make sure the axle is still unpitted. Other solution if it's all too worn is dump the lot and fit a UN55.

[Gattopardo]

My guess is that the previous tinkerer felt the balls themselves needed changing but only had 16 spares and didn't want to wait to get others.  If you haven't got replacements, and the current ones seem ok, just grease and replace, I would have thought.  It's just possible that having a bearing missing might cause a structural weakness in the race and it might crack but it's hard to see where it would go from there as it is pretty well supported anyway.  But if it's not urgent then replace at leisure.

Someone who knows what they are talking about will be along in a minute - and they'll probably be Australian!

All the best

Peter

That is what I would have thought but don't think it has ever been apart.  Nothing else has been touched on the bike. 

Don't ask any questions, no time for doubt. Dump the cages, save the balls if they look worth the effort and fit loose balls held in by grease during reassembly. Probably 11 a side. Make sure the axle is still unpitted. Other solution if it's all too worn is dump the lot and fit a UN55.

At the mo, no idea where I would go to buy ball bearings.

[slope]

At the mo, no idea where I would go to buy ball bearings.

PM your address and I'll post you some

[Gattopardo]

At the mo, no idea where I would go to buy ball bearings.

PM your address and I'll post you some

Not in the UK.

I have some in the UK...going to wander to the supermarket and see what they have.

[grams]

That is what I would have thought but don't think it has ever been apart.  Nothing else has been touched on the bike. 

Replace “previous tinkerer” with “someone at the factory”, possibly aided and abetted by a beanball-counter in the office.

[mzjo]

At the mo, no idea where I would go to buy ball bearings.

PM your address and I'll post you some

Not in the UK.

I have some in the UK...going to wander to the supermarket and see what they have.

If the back wheel was scrap you could pinch some out of the rear hub!

If you're in France I could find you a scrap hub in the garage probably!

[Adam]

That is what I would have thought but don't think it has ever been apart.  Nothing else has been touched on the bike. 

Replace “previous tinkerer” with “someone at the factory”, possibly aided and abetted by a beanball-counter in the office.

Could be.  Years ago I decided to clean and re-grease the bearings on a wheel which I'd bought from new.  There were only 8 ball bearings on 1 side, rather than 9.

[quixoticgeek]

Not in the UK.

I have some in the UK...going to wander to the supermarket and see what they have.

Simply bearings do ship internationally I believe.

For bike specific ones, bikecomponents.de have most of the shimano small parts, and ship internationally.

If all else fails, aliexpress.

J

[giropaul]

Back in the day, we used to rebuild the bearings with one less ball, and run the bearing on oil, on track bikes. There was a characteristic tick tick from the bearings.

[Gattopardo]

Not in the UK.

I have some in the UK...going to wander to the supermarket and see what they have.

Simply bearings do ship internationally I believe.

For bike specific ones, bikecomponents.de have most of the shimano small parts, and ship internationally.

If all else fails, aliexpress.

J

Or just clean the balls, cage and inside the BB, regrease and put it back together.  Seems odd that the hypermarket near me doesn't have the usual caged bb bearings and grease tube.

[mzjo]

Not in the UK.

I have some in the UK...going to wander to the supermarket and see what they have.

Simply bearings do ship internationally I believe.

For bike specific ones, bikecomponents.de have most of the shimano small parts, and ship internationally.

If all else fails, aliexpress.

J

Or just clean the balls, cage and inside the BB, regrease and put it back together.  Seems odd that the hypermarket near me doesn't have the usual caged bb bearings and grease tube.

.
If you're in France (for some unexplainable reason I think you might be) that doesn't surprise me at all. I have never seen that sort of thing on the shelves of any "grande surface" that I've been in. A whole lot of other curious bike stuff (like 26x13/8" tyres -they're an ancient junior racing size!) but never balls or any other bearing. There are places where you might find such a thing but not the hypermarket!

[Gattopardo]

At the mo seems that a square taper bb seems to be thin on the shelves.

The ball bearings are marked, but the bb cups and spindle seems alright.  The driver side cup maybe difficult to remove so I'm tempted to just repack with waterproof wheel bearing grease and leave it like that.