sd5782 

I purchased an older ladies bike because of some nice parts including Phil hubs, and some Suntour barcons. Derailleurs had 1974 date codes, and the bike also had a Phil BB. I bought the tool and thought I would have to fight loctite and need heat to remove the BB, but it came out nicely. 68mm bracket on bike and 113mm spindle. It spins nicely.






So, what do I have here? The pics I see on eBay show the bearings protruding from the shell perhaps 5-6mm while these are flush. I did see one that was flush like this one. Were there a couple styles of the early version? The body of this is 60mm and it seemed to be mounted solidly. I took a short ride on the bike before teardown and nothing seemed amiss.






Thoughts and knowledge appreciated?

Kontact 

Aside from having a straight body between the bearings, this doesn't look any different than the current set up:

https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/03...s_V1.2.pdf?354

ShannonM

Phil bottom brackets don't have a fixed cup. You adjust the chainline by tightening one side and loosening the other. This is why it's recommended to buy two of the tools, so you don't have to switch back and forth. That being the case, it's not unusual to have some threads standing proud of the bottom bracket shell.

Phil Wood should have all of the instructions you'll need, and they can still rebuild your BB, if it needs that.

--Shannon

sd5782 

Most of the pics of the older ones look like this with the bearings protruding unlike the one I have. I was just wondering.

Kontact 

Which shows there are at least three generations of these bodies. But maybe there are more?

Andrew R Stewart 

While I don't know the dates which versions were offered the Phil BBs have gone through I have seen really old ones like the OP's. I wonder if it never was LocTited. I've seen a few that weren't. Andy

sd5782 

My guess is no loctite, as removal was fairly easy. The threads felt a little “gummy”, so perhaps a different product was used sparingly. Bike is a Campania, which was a California brand that did use some Phil stuff on their products. I do see on eBay one looking like the one I have and listed as NOS. Zero personal knowledge on Phil stuff, so thought there was only the 2 versions.

Rick

I purchased my first Phil Wood BB from the Cupertino bicycle shop from Spence Wolf while I was stationed at Fort Ord in 1980. The shop installed it. They use the blue loctite. It always comes with the BB set. I believe you instal first to check the chain line. When you have that correct then you pull one cup at a time out and put some of the loctite on and reinstall. As was stated there is no locking cup. Instructions

trailangel

Make sure the logo "Phil" is facing the correct direction when installing.

GamblerGORD53

Mine is a 2012. I only use grease on the shell threads. It doesn't move, so it's easy to take off or adjust.
For a while I was using both a Rohloff14 and SA 5w with diff chainlines.
I did change the bearings once in 29,000 miles. Damn shaft is so tight, I get the LBS to put it together.
Still looks as good as new.

sd5782 

If I would ever use it, I would put maybe 2,900 miles on it. It is interesting to see some of these older highly rated parts and to work with them. I need to find a vintage 120mm rear spaced sport tourer to try the Phil hubs and this bb on, and perhaps even the cool looking 3 arm crankset. Too bad the original bike was a ladies that is too small, as it came with some pretty cool vintage 1974 parts.

As for mounting, if I ever use it, there is a Loctite purple that I would try. It drys kinda gummy and is movable. The Phil doesn’t have bearing rotational forces acting on the cups trying to unscrew the mounting cups as do conventional cup and cone bottom brackets. If I planned to ride across country perhaps the blue, but I won’t be doing that.

mpetry912 

it is absolutely normal for the mounting rings to protrude a few mm from the shell.

The advantage of the Phil is that it can be shifted laterally to produce the perfect chainline.

Installation tip: Tighten the lockrings down, about 30-40 ft lb. Then take a wood block, put it against the spindle, and give it a good whack with a hammer.

Laterally

and then re-tighten.

/markp

Kontact 

Easy enough to narrow a 126mm bike to 120, but both have the same chainline.

Steel Charlie

Just tighten the QR. You're only looking at 3mm/side. Easypeasy.
And
I rode a Phil BB mondo miles. Had it in three different bikes. It went with the last bike in '81 or '82. Probably still rolling around somewhere

3alarmer 

...melt forged is maker'speak for cast aluminum. I tend to avoid them, given a choice. YMMV, so I'm sure it's fine for around the neighborhood.

sd5782 

You are probably very correct on that. I’m not a strong rider though, so doubt I could hurt it, and it would probably look kinda cool with minimal polishing.

Kontact 

The sky is falling. The sky is falling.