Hard rock octalink bb removal

larkim

With assistance from a knowledgeable neighbour, we've determined that the bb on a 2011 Hardrock is in need of some TLC.

Drive side removal of the bolt into the bb and pulling off the crankset on that side has gone without trouble.

But the non-drive side I'm struggling with.

Using an 8mm Allen key I can't get the bolt to shift.

Just checking - is the bolt reverse threaded on that side in the same way that a pedal would be? Or am I being thick?

Cheers!

Matt

stubs

No both crank bolts are right hand thread. Lots of WD40 or similar and a long lever needed.

larkim

Cheers! Now to undo the tightening I've just spent thirty minutes achieving!

larkim

B*****r. Can't shift it.

If only I'd been whacking the allen key with a hammer in the right direction in the first place, perhaps it would have come off as easily as the drive side did.

Soaked it with TF2 spray (through the hollow core of the BB as well as from the cap on the crank side), didn't give at all (though need to try again tonight). Why didn't I buy allen keys with a long lever...

Any tips?

Giraffoto

larkim wrote:

B*****r. Can't shift it.

If only I'd been whacking the allen key with a hammer in the right direction in the first place, perhaps it would have come off as easily as the drive side did.

Soaked it with TF2 spray (through the hollow core of the BB as well as from the cap on the crank side), didn't give at all (though need to try again tonight). Why didn't I buy allen keys with a long lever...

Any tips?

Get a hex wrench bit that fits on a 3/8" socket (or 1/2", your choice) and use a big bar.

larkim

Great minds...

Nipped out at lunch and bought a reducer so that I can fit 3/8 sockets to my 1/2 inch car torque wrench (that I own but have yet to find a use for!!).

Are we certain that the bolts into the BB are not reverse threaded on the non-drive side though? Spoke to another MTB enthusiast this morning and his instant reaction was that they would be reverse threaded, though after some thought he declared he wasn't entirely sure!!

cooldad

Nope. The BB is reverse threaded. The crank bolts are not.

larkim

If cooldad says it is so, then it is so :-)

Thanks!

cooldad

Or I hope so anyway.

larkim

As expected, you were right. Took an extendable car wheel wrench fitted with a 1/2 to 3/8 reducer and a 8mm socket allen key, plus all the strength I could muster. Done. Literally.

cooldad

Brute force is always a solution.

stubs

I would tell your knowledgeable neighbour and the MTB enthusiast to get stuffed. If they told you the crank bolts were handed who knows what damage they could do in the future. 5 minutes on google or youtube would have told you what you needed to know.

Giraffoto

larkim wrote:

As expected, you were right. Took an extendable car wheel wrench fitted with a 1/2 to 3/8 reducer and a 8mm socket allen key, plus all the strength I could muster. Done. Literally.

As an added bonus, you'll have a two foot long iron bar close at hand the next time some twit tries to tell you that the crank bolts have a left hand thread.

larkim

stubs wrote:

I would tell your knowledgeable neighbour and the MTB enthusiast to get stuffed. If they told you the crank bolts were handed who knows what damage they could do in the future. 5 minutes on google or youtube would have told you what you needed to know.

I must admit, particularly with neighbour who is a very, very active MTB-er and has a good number of frames / bikes on the go, I am surprised he got this one wrong - perhaps we had some miscommunication, perhaps he was just talking about the BB cup threading and I misunderstood.

I had little luck with google as I was asking a question which nobody seemed to have asked before - a bit like googling for fuel efficiency of cars powered by angel delight; you're not going to get any answers because the question is so stupid in the first place!! With hindsight, I could have inferred that threading was "normal" as most of the videos just show undoing the crank bolts on the drive side with some comment along the lines of "and then undo the other side", implying that it is an identical action.

Hey ho, live and learn.

stubs

Took me 22 seconds to find this http://www.bentrideronline.com/messageboard/showthread.php?t=85293 with the question bicycle crank bolts left or right hand thread

You need to practice your googlefu

larkim

Well done you...

Anyway, at least we now have another searchable thread for the same topic that idiots like me can find!

Reflecting on that linked thread, given that I had to put some effort into getting the bolt (tightened and then) loose, with some signs of rounding in the bolt head, I imagine there would be sound logic in replacing the crank bolts with fresh ones?

nicklouse

Or just read Parktools.

All the info you could need is on there.

larkim

nicklouse wrote:

Or just read Parktools.

All the info you could need is on there.

True enough!

http://www.parktool.com/blog/repair-hel ... r-octalink

Thanks!