Creaking SC Heckler - UPDATED

Hairy_Bodge

Bought an '11 Santa Cruz Heckler from Stif a couple of months back.

Last week it developed an annoying creaking/clicking noise from the BB area.

I've tried different pedals, and ridden it without a seatpost/clamp. Also checked to make sure the cranks/my shoes are not catching anything.

The noise occurs when I am pedalling hard on the left crank. I get no noise with the right crank, and no noise when cruising. Also no noise when bouncing on the suspension hard. When I give the left crank a good push, it clicks/creaks once, then once more when I transfer power to my right leg. So it's like something is moving back and forth under pressure.

Last night I removed the left crank, and cleaned/re-greased it, then re-torqued. The noise remains! Damn thing! So I'm thinking it must be the BB at fault.

I've only ridden the bike about 10 times since buying it, so nothing is worn or damaged from use. The cranks are the 2-piece Deore items, with external BB. Are they known to be made from cheese? I've never had issues with anything Shimano in the past so I'm surprised.

Tonight I might try removing the BB shells, and fitting them with some PTFE tape wrapped around the threads. Any other tips guys?

If anyone has any ideas on what could be causing the noise, your opinions would be very welcome.

Cheers

nicklouse

did you check the cups? the plastic inserts are a pain.

Hairy_Bodge

Thanks for the response nicklouse.

I've spent the evening stripping the whole bike down and rebuilding it!

It turns out it's not the crank or BB. It's the main pivot for the rear suspension. :evil:

The twisting force produced by heavy cranking, is what causes the main pivot to click/creak under load. I've stripped down, cleaned and inspected, and re-assembled the main pivot, and the damn thing is still doing it!

I'm not sure if there is/has been too much or too little bearing pre-load though. I can't find any torque figures from Santa Cruz anywhere for this model year, so I'm at a loss. I'll email SC tomorrow, and see what they say.

The bearings look and feel fine, but I suppose the next step is to get Stif Cycles to replace the bearings under warranty. They should be able to do it as they are SC UK also.....

v23

I had a similar issue on my 08 Heckler. Creak under load, stripped and rebuilt everything, no joy. Took it to Stif, bit of grease on the cam of the rear QR and creak gone. Worth a try before you make the trek back to Stif.

nicklouse

Homers Double had a similar issue with his Heckler as well.

Hairy_Bodge

Right, well after some emails back and forth with Santa Cruz (great customer support), I have it sorted.

SC have sent me all the correct torque specs, and notes on what lubrication to use where, and what Loctite to use where. They immediately offered me new bearings FOC too, which was good.

This weekend I stipped the pivot down, and cleaned everything up again. I then followed the exact assembly procedure given to me by SC. As I torqued up the axle bolt, it quickly became obvious what the problem was before. The axle must have worked loose, and the second time I re-built it, I didn't use enough torque on the axle (not enough bearing pre-load). The correct torque is 35lb.in for the axle. I used Loctite 248 on the axle threads this time, which is slightly stronger than the 242 that SC specify. So we'll see if that holds a bit better.

I also correctly torqued up the bolt that pulls in the collet, to lock the RHS of the axle to the swingarm. The torque for this is 110lb.in, and I used Loctite again on the theads.

It certainly doesn't feel like it's going anywhere now! But to be sure I've put two tiny blobs of bright nail polish on the axle and swingarm, so I have a quick visual check to see if the axle bolt has slackened.

Hopefully this helps anyone with the same issue. I'm loving my bike again now. Off to Gisburn on Saturday, so fixed it just in time!