Straightbangin

I have a cheap mountain bike that I ride daily. After about 6 mo the bottom bracket wasn't working right so I learned to overhaul it and used caged ball bearing again with the warranty ones Huffy sent me. The old caged bearing ring I took out had a couple of the bearings out of it and it the caged looked a little chewed up.

About 6 mo later ( last week ) my bottom bracket started getting noisy again so I figured it was time to overhaul it and decided to use loose bearings this time as was suggested to me ( I had a bag of correctly sized new ones waiting for such an occasion ) When I took out the old caged bearing ring a few bearings popped out of it and the caged ring was MANGLED, the other ring not as bad. So I was glad to move on to loose ones. I replaced my 9 ball caged ring with 11 loose ones. I saw a video online and the guy had the same size bearings and set up as mine so I knew to put 11 in. They fit just right too and I used a ton of the blue park tool grease. I also put a new spindle in as I had received one as a warranty part but had not used it yet. I put everything back together properly and the pedaling feels smooth and nice but I can hear what sounds like the ball bearings going around in there. I doesn't sound loud and obnoxious like something is wrong and everything feels fine but I can hear them ( I have dog hearing and can hear everything ) lol. Most people may not even notice it.

My question is... are loose bearings supposed to make noise? I don't think I've ever had a bike with loose bearings before. Thanks

Mondo734

The closest thing I did was replace loose ball bearings in a wheelhub, but I didn't notice any noise. I'm thinking you shouldn't hear anything if it was done right. Loose ball bearings are hard to keep in place and can fall out of their race even when covered in grease. My thought is that maybe one fell out of the race as you were putting it back together and so you have one bearing rattling around.

Straightbangin

gad ive seen vides on replacing the rear hub ones and it looks like a lot of work. I don't even know what size rear cassette removal tool id need. ya that could be but I almost sounds like many of them going around and very uniformly (like they are in the right place ) if that makes any sense. its weird.

ClarkinHawaii

I really believe that the proper number of ball bearings of the proper size placed between unscored, unpitted cups and cones and properly greased and adjusted will produce a silent result. Something is wrong.

Straightbangin

I believe one of my cups had a little pit on the edge ( I felt something not perfectly smooth when I was cleaning it ) maybe that's it. thanks

dedhed

Get all the chunks of cage out? I'll assume this is a 3 piece crank and adjustable cup BB. These take a bit of finesse to get adjusted properly as when you tighten the lock ring it affects the adjustment. It usually takes me a couple - 3 X's till I'm satisfied. Cup and cone bearings (hubs, heads sets, BB) adjustment is often a experience and "feel" thing and not something you can quantify easily. You have to remember all things mechanical will make some noise but generally if it's "right" it won't make noticeable noise.

Park Tool Co. » ParkTool Blog » Trouble Shooting a Creaky or Noisy Drive Train

Park Tool Co. » ParkTool Blog » Adjustable Type Bottom Bracket Service

Straightbangin

yup I cleaned everything out well. yes 3 piece crank. I know what you mean about the feel it's kind of like tuning the carb on my scooter, but that's more feel AND sound I had to tighten and loosen the lock ring until it was tight enough but not making the crank hard to turn.

Bill Kapaun

IF the chain is off the crank and you give it a good spin, you'll probably hear a bit of noise.
It should be consistent. No grinds, chunks etc.

Straightbangin

thanks. ya no grinds and clunks just kind of like a " clink clink clink clink clink " you can barely hear it but it sounds like the bearings rotating around.

Bill Kapaun

I prefer to think of it as a whirr whirr sound.

Straightbangin

ya sounds more like that Bill. My friends who are into biking rode my bike today and said that I'm lucky a $90 bike that I ride into the ground is that quiet and in such good shape. They said my hearing is just too sensitive and its fine. Now when I ride it, it sounds fine so either they subconsciously got me to think its fine or it worked itself out. either way thanks for your input guys.

davidad

When you adjust the bearing preload there should be a little drag that you can feel with your fingers for a properly adjusted bearing.

Bottom Bracket Bearing adjustment by Jobst Brandt