blueingreen

Hello all,I have a 2012 Jamis Sputnik and a FSA Gimondi crank. Thinking of putting grease on the crank bolt since I hear squeaking when biking.

Does anyone know how much to torque the crank bolt? I can’t find the specs online; I did find a website that said Crank bolts (M8 bolt) torque to 34-39 nm and Crank bolts (M14 bolt) torque to 49-59 nm.

However, the FSA gimondi crank has a SOCKET HEAD BOLT so I don’t know if it’s M14 or M8.

Thanks in advance!

TejanoTrackie 

Torque is based on the size of the threads and not the size or type of screw head. The threads are M8 whether it's a hex cap screw or a hex socket screw, so 34-39 nm sounds about right. Make sure to grease the bolt threads but do NOT grease the axle tapers.

blueingreen

thanks so much! regarding the "axle tapers" you mean the end of the bottom bracket, the square???

blueingreen

and ive been using silglyde as grease is that ok?

TejanoTrackie 

Yes, it's the part where the crankarms mount.

TejanoTrackie 

Any tenacious lubricant should work just fine, although Sil-Glyde is silicone based and is normally used to soften seals and belts. I would recommend bearing grease as a better choice.

Moe Zhoost

I used to be OCD about cleaning all the grease of the spindle tapers before installing the crank but was enlightened decades ago by 1) encountering too many cranks that were difficult to remove due to corrosion and 2) Reading the opinion of Jobst Brandt, whose judgement I typically defer to in any controversy. A thin layer of grease will, in any case, allow more consistent torque measurements.

blueingreen

thanks! do u recommend any bearing grease?

TejanoTrackie 

I used to grease the spindle, and found that I ended up pressing the crank arm too far into the taper. By installing the arms clean and dry, this no longer happened and I no longer had to re-tighten the bolts. Just my experience and no disrespect to the great Jobst Brandt.

TejanoTrackie 

Any high quality automotive synthetic wheel bearing grease, such as Mobil 1, Valvoline, Napa etc.

TurboTrueno

not a helpful post here but I Just googled that Gimondi and it is sweet. It looks like my old campagnolo one which is all busted up.

thank you for this thread i would never have heard of this piece otherwise. I like what I have tried from FSA so far

Also (i'm sure you have tried this, but just in case you haven't) i had to lube up my clipless pedals a tiny bit and it stopped some squeaking noises.