BB30 service

figbat

My BB30 is a bit rough... no play but some roughness in turning. I had a quick go at getting it apart tonight and failed. I have read online guides which say it might need a decent whack, and I did give it a good tap with my best momentum transfer tool, but it didn't appear to budge.

Is it really a case of just hitting it harder? Or do I get a special tool? I got the non-drive side crank arm off no problem and then stalled.

Cannondale Synapse aluminium frame, FSA cranks.

AK_jnr

If you got the non drive side out, the crank side would already be off as you undo it from there first.

The sequence is;
Undo the crank side with a 10mm allen key. Its self extracting so will just fall off. Then just a light tap if the non drive side is a bit snug.

figbat

OK, then I am confused. I undid the left-hand crank arm with a 10 mm allen socket and the arm came off. I was then left with the chain rings and right hand crank arm still on the bike. This is where I ground to a halt so I put it all back together.

sungod

once you've got one side off you just push the axle through from that side, assisted by some precision tapping if necessary

if it was assembled without any grease (or it got washed out - rough bearings suggest some water and crud has got in there) the axle could need a fair bit of force to push through

put some penetrating oil on the axle/bearing interface on the exposed side and leave it to seep in, then try a few sharp taps with a rubber mallet or hammer with some padding - you can hold the frame by the bb shell to avoid the force being transmitted thought the rest of the frame

Semantik

AK_jnr wrote:

If you got the non drive side out, the crank side would already be off as you undo it from there first.

The sequence is;
Undo the crank side with a 10mm allen key. Its self extracting so will just fall off. Then just a light tap if the non drive side is a bit snug.

makes no sense to me either

figbat

sungod wrote:

once you've got one side off you just push the axle through from that side, assisted by some precision tapping if necessary

if it was assembled without any grease (or it got washed out - rough bearings suggest some water and crud has got in there) the axle could need a fair bit of force to push through

put some penetrating oil on the axle/bearing interface on the exposed side and leave it to seep in, then try a few sharp taps with a rubber mallet or hammer with some padding - you can hold the frame by the bb shell to avoid the force being transmitted thought the rest of the frame

Thanks - I did give it some good taps but it never shifted. I watched a YouTube video where it dropped out after a couple of small nudges. I suspect you may be right about the lack/loss of grease.

Whilst I am here then, I read on a Bike Radar guide that there is a proper way and a cheap way to do this. The proper way uses special bearing extraction and pressing tools. The cheap way uses drifts and hammers. I have done motorcycle wheel bearings the "cheap" way and this job appears to be exactly the same process, so am I OK to gently and progressively tap the bearings out and then drive them back in using the old bearing race as a drift? Perhaps having put the bearing in the freezer and a hairdryer on the BB? Or is this one of those things that you just do properly because tools are cheaper than frames?

arthur_scrimshaw

figbat wrote:

sungod wrote:

once you've got one side off you just push the axle through from that side, assisted by some precision tapping if necessary

if it was assembled without any grease (or it got washed out - rough bearings suggest some water and crud has got in there) the axle could need a fair bit of force to push through

put some penetrating oil on the axle/bearing interface on the exposed side and leave it to seep in, then try a few sharp taps with a rubber mallet or hammer with some padding - you can hold the frame by the bb shell to avoid the force being transmitted thought the rest of the frame

Thanks - I did give it some good taps but it never shifted. I watched a YouTube video where it dropped out after a couple of small nudges. I suspect you may be right about the lack/loss of grease.

Whilst I am here then, I read on a Bike Radar guide that there is a proper way and a cheap way to do this. The proper way uses special bearing extraction and pressing tools. The cheap way uses drifts and hammers. I have done motorcycle wheel bearings the "cheap" way and this job appears to be exactly the same process, so am I OK to gently and progressively tap the bearings out and then drive them back in using the old bearing race as a drift? Perhaps having put the bearing in the freezer and a hairdryer on the BB? Or is this one of those things that you just do properly because tools are cheaper than frames?

It's up to you, both ways are viable, the 'cheap way' requires more mechanical aptitude and feel which it sounds as if you have. I've got two bikes with BB30 and bought the park drift tool as I like collecting tools, I use a headset press to put the bearings back. You don't need either.

andy9964

I had the same problem on my CAADX - BB30/FSA. I had to hit it with a lump hammer, far harder than I was comfortable doing, but it came out.
I'd also tried, and failed, on my previous bike, a 2013 Synapse. Other than the chain ring sizes, it's pretty much the same set up
Put a piece of wood on the end before hitting it, or you'll get burrs on the end, and will struggle to refit the left hand crank :oops:

svetty

Jus' ***kin'' 'it it!

sungod

aluminium + steel + dirty/salty road water is a recipe for galvanic corrosion, it's a possible cause for things getting stuck, another is that someone put retaining compound (loctite 641 or 609 are possibilities) on the bb-bearing and/or axle-bearing interfaces

sounds like you're planning on new bearings, in which case to ease things you could pick out the bearing seal on the visible side, punch/pick out the cage depending which side it's on, then remove the balls to leave that race floating, you're still left with the other end but it'll need less force than with both bearings

for reassembly, clean it all, put waterproof grease over all bearing surfaces

if there's no drain hole in the bb shell either make one or remember to up end the bike after wet rides to drain out any water that has crept in there

pilot_pete

I bought the Park tool for driving out the bearings. It comes with two 'dies' (not sure what they are called) which you use to fit the new bearings with your bearing press. I don't have a bearing press, but I went to my local engineering supplies shop and bought a length of screwed rod, two big washers and hefty nuts to suit. Perfect bearing press...

PP

lesfirth

Svetty wrote:

Jus' ***kin'' 'it it!

I agree. Get someone to hold the frame as firmly and as close to the bottom bracket as possible.

No amount of little hits are as good as one big one. I find that a big wooden carpenters mallet works well.

Anonymous

OP - You have actually removed the chain from the rings first and is not just slapping the spindle and the chain is stopping things moving?

Sounds stupid but I've seen it happen

figbat

I'll get the big hammer out! Or mallet.

No, the crank was firmly in the bearings. I did wonder if it might be Loctited; you know when you hit something and you just know it's solid? That.

figbat

Every so often I revisit my old posts and occasionally update them. Well here I am with this one.

After the first attempt above failed I kept riding as it was. It never got any worse, but didn't get better either (and it clicks and clanks like a BB30 does). I ordered replacement bearings from FSA but hadn't got around to it.

Today I got around to it, spurred on by booking my first sportive for the year. And wouldn't you know, it actually went OK. As before I undid the non-drive side but rather than take the self-extracting arm off, I just loosened it a bit. I left the 10mm Allen socket in the nut and then took a hammer to the socket. A couple of decent blows and the crank started to move. A couple more and it was loose enough to wiggle out from the chainring side (having first fully removed the non-DS crank arm).

On first inspection I saw a load of swarf in the BB shell... I thought this might have been a bearing failure but both bearings looked and felt OK and further inspection showed it was likely from machining and assembly of the frame tubes.

I then deployed the cheap method of replacing the bearings. I drifted each side out with a hammer and punch, removed the circlips, cleaned up and greased the shell. I then put new circlips in and gently tapped the new bearings into the frame, keeping them as square as possible and using the old bearings to drive them right up against the circlips (they are a little recessed into the shell). After cleaning up the crankset and greasing the axle I put it all back together with the seals and spacers and bingo, smooth as silk. A quick test ride felt ok, no noises and shifting all as it should be.

I have a headset to go in my old MTB next, so stay tuned.