Going through far too many BB's... i'm doing something wrong

weeksy59

Evening guys,

I'm going through far too many BB's... OK, the last one i understand as both sides seized due to water and mud. I can live with that. This one though has been treated only to hard trails and sun.
Deore 10 speed setup, running Deore level HT II BB.

What i'm thinking is i've done the litle retention bolt up too tight with my tool, i must admit i give it a decent tighten (with my hand of course) but should i be doing it just finger tight softly and then using the 2 allen bolts for the holding it in place ?

Now i sit back and think about it, most BB issues i've had seem to be on the non-drive side.

Am i on the right lines you think ?

The Northern Monkey

so how long are they lasting?

weeksy59

The Northern Monkey wrote:

so how long are they lasting?

This latest one was less than a fortnight, about 50 miles off-road i rekon.

YeehaaMcgee

weeksy59 wrote:

What i'm thinking is i've done the litle retention bolt up too tight with my tool, i must admit i give it a decent tighten (with my hand of course) but should i be doing it just finger tight softly and then using the 2 allen bolts for the holding it in place ?

Yes, just finger tight. Shimano suggest 0.7Nm. That's really very little torque.
If you have been overtightening the bearings, you will have overtightened BOTH sides, not just one - the crankset axle is linked between drive and non-drive sides.

Anothe rthing worth considering is, maybe your frame needs to have the BB shell faced to ensure both sides are exactly parallel.

weeksy59

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

Anothe rthing worth considering is, maybe your frame needs to have the BB shell faced to ensure both sides are exactly parallel.

I've fitted this latest one a lot looser, so we'll see how we go with this and then see from there. I think without doubt based upon replies here and STW i've been doing them FAR too tight.

Chunkers1980

There is not loose and tight really, there's right. Set it up with the chain off.

The Rookie

As a rule of thumb and if you're not sure how things should feel, with the pinch bolts loose do it up tight (to make sure it's all pulled togethere properly) then back it right off an then do it up until you just start to feel some resistance, then do up the pinch bolts.

supersonic

Is the frame faced?