prairiepedaler

Hi, as shown I have an adjustable cup with cage bearings. I haven't seen this arrangement before yet it's probably common; it appears there is a press fit retainer that seats into the cup and which prevents the bearing set from being removed. It's made of steel and states "pre-lubed" on it as well as "Hatta" (the brand I guess). This thing looks pryable. Anyone remove one of these retainers before? I want to clean things in there a little more thoroughly before repacking.

Andrew R Stewart 

Remove with no regrets or issues. The pressed in steel retainer is just for assembly purposes, it's faster if the balls don't need loading at the bike assembly line. Feel free to use loose balls (not in their "fingered" retainer ring") and go to 11 balls. Andy

prairiepedaler

Ok, thanks Andy. They just stuck that thing in there to make it simpler for assembly line packing? The bottom bracket is from a barely used bike yet the race on one end of the axle has a couple small noticeable divets in the bearing path. With new grease and all the old crap out of there (you know the stuff, like the consistency of ear wax) and properly tightened in, the spin on the crank is not all that easy compared to a new cartridge style or even other adjustables I'd done before. I'm going to end swapping it out with a modern one in the future and for now I'll just run it into the ground.