masi61

I’m assuming this threaded bottom bracket is English. I want to remove this square taper bottom bracket and so far it won’t budge:





In the second photo you can see I have a 36” 1/2”-socket drive breaker bar with a 1-1/4” socket holding the Shimano splined bottom bracket tool. I put my foot and (some) of my body weight directly on top of the Shimano tool to try to keep it from camming out. I then try to pull the breaker bar clockwise. No go! I don’t want to break or damage anything so I am thinking over my next move. I’m going to head over to buy some “Kroil-oil” which I keep hearing is a good penetrating oil to free up corrosion. I will soak it in the Kroil oil for a few days then re-try the breaker bar. It that doesn’t work, I may use my Chicago Pneumatic 1/2” drive air impact wrench set on clockwise rotation to break the bottom bracket free. This method makes me cringe a bit since there is a definite possibility of the splines on the Shimano tool skipping out unless firm downward pressure is held.

Am I on the right track with this (stuck) bottom bracket removal?

Iride01 

I've got no help for you. Just wanted to comment that there seem to be a rash of stuck BB threads during the last week or so.

Wonder what's up with that? Planet's not aligned right? Moon wobble? Maybe COVID can do more than we think!

As usual, consider letting one of your LBS's take a shot at it. If their mechanic has been wrenching for a while, then they probably have dealt with stuck BB's enough times to know what works for them. Maybe even down to the point of knowing what works best for that specific type BB in that specific shell and the material the shell is made of.

Bill Kapaun

I don't see any evidence of you using any penetrating oil.
Get a GOOD one. WD-40 isn't.

Crankycrank

An old mechanics trick is to try to slightly tighten the BB first and then try to loosen it. Don't use frame destroying gorilla strength to tighten it of course but some leverage is OK. Also set some ice cubes in the BB for at least an hour and then pour some boiling water on the outer BB shell and immediately try to loosen. Safe, won't hurt anything.

pdlamb

OP, you're on the right track. Besides penetrating oil and a long lever, you'll need patience.

A while back my bike and the spare bike both had problems one spring and summer. The lead mechanic at my LBS applied penetrating oil daily for two weeks, every other day for a couple more weeks, and finally got it loose after six weeks. A month after I could ride the main bike, the spare bike BB went crunchy. Same rigamarole, except this one only took a month to break loose.

(Teflon plumbers tape FTW! No problem for ME to R&R the BB last year, 10 years on.)

masi61

I just came back from O’Reilley’s. I got the PB-blaster. They don’t carry the Kroil. I just sprayed a whole bunch in from the non-drive side (I was able to remove that lock ring no problem.

hokiefyd 

You may not be getting as much leverage on the tool as you think, if you have to stand on the socket to hold it and try to move the breaker bar. Do you have someone else around who may be able to hold the tool in while you get leverage on the very end of your breaker bar (or vice versa)?

Charliekeet

Agreed, we've seen a bunch of these lately, and I had one myself after not having anything stuck for years. Non-drive side was not a prob, drive side couple days of PB Blaster and cranking it led to nothing. LBS got it out in a few hours, and I have no idea why that 10-yr-old one was tough whereas the not-touched-since the late-80s one I did before that came out with the first turn.

masi61

yeah, over the last few days I was reading the thread about the Eddy Merckx Litespeed titanium with the stuck Octalink BB. Same kind of malfunction here. This Silk Tour 800 was purchased from Craig’s List locally and is just begging to be built into a proper gravel bike with different, better parts. I’m thinking of running a BSA30 bottom bracket in the threaded 68mm English bottom bracket so I can run a custom Cannondale Hollowgram triple crank for the re-build.

masi61

My thought exactly! No one has been around so far but I will get my girlfriend entrusted to either stand on it or pull (or push) on the breaker bar.

masi61

yeah - some things are odd like that. I really am tempted to speed things up considerably by just pressurizing my air compressor and giving the air impact a whirl.

masi61

My 1st spray with PB blaster on the non-drive side has already migrated downward which I hope is a good thing...

Iride01 

Just double check that the shaft length of that crankset will work with the overall width of the BSA30's external cups.

Bill Kapaun

Is this a cup & cone BB?
Removing the NDS cup & spindle is the way to go if that's the case.
I use Liquid Wrench in a can.
Non aerosol, so I can fill a small hypodermic syringe and squirt a bit on to the shell and let it run down the threads, inside out.
The end of the cup acts like a small reservoir to hold some of the oil from running down and allows it to "feed" the threads.
I top off frequently at first and then between TV commercials/programs etc.



This is how I secure the tool. Different tools/spindle lengths can be easily used with a couple different length bolts (8mm x 1.0mm) and a number of washers.

dsbrantjr

I use a bar clamp across tool, BB and all to keep the tool from camming out. Loosen the clamp a soon as you break the BB free.

Russ Roth

Not the worst idea at all and it does work.
Although these tools are designed to accept a ratchet/breaker bar the BB tool doesn't work right when you do so, they just prefer to cam out. Best is if you can put the open end of a 32mm wrench on there so the wrench can sit close to the frame and can be parallel to the frame, you can put some real pressure on the wrench while the tool will stay in the BB. There's also a bolt that pedros makes that screws into the BB through the BB tool and has a nut that locks the tool in place, I've contemplated buying one but the large wrench has yet to let me down. A breaker bar just won't do it.

masi61

I’m hoping to take a Hollowgram 30mm mountain axle and collect up some spacers and wavy washers to make it sandwich together where I can apply the correct torque spec (for a road triple).

masi61

Thanks for your reply. I went ahead and ordered the Pedro’s tool yesterday. I think I will apply a (32mm?) wrench then to the flats of the Shimano splined removal tool with less worry about the tool slipping out. By that time the PB blaster would have likely done its job anyway.

dedhed

Some are more stubborn than others.

krakhaus 

Use a large C-clamp from the other side of the spindle and across the socket and breaker so it clamps the socket into the B/B.
Also, I'm surprised nobody has asked if you're turning it the right way. It's a left hand thread.

squirtdad

penetrating oil (check out freeze off is is penetrating oil and makes it super cold), more leverage, and I really like to tap firmly on the breaker bar with a hammer to try to shock it loose a bit

masi61

Update: The PB blaster worked. I gotr the Pedro’s tool in the mail today but it would have needed a fender washer to hold the M8 knurled bolt to hold it on the Shimano tool. So I carefully fried the 24” breaker bar and while putting pressure on the tool to keep it from skipping out, I rotated clockwise and the BB came out!

next up: going to see if I can make a Cannondale Hollowgram triple crank using a BSA 30 threaded bottom bracket.



As previously stated, the new bottom bracket I plan to try is an English threaded BSA30 external bottom bracket and I have a Hollowgram crank that I changed to a triple spider for a trick trekking triple crank option: