jonny7

I mean, one of these.



I've been battling with a campy French adjustable cup for a few weeks now. It just won't move, but it's quite difficult to obtain a good mecanical advantage with the small pin holes. My Park Tool pin spanner just flexes. I broke the plastic pins on my HCW-4 tool a long time ago, but I don't see it working here anyway. The tool here displayed seems promising. I wouldn't pay that much for it but if it produces magic I might keep looking for it!

repechage

I think the only thing in common is that it has six pins.

I recently ordered some tools from lecycleur.com
I did not order the adjustable cup tool but it looks promising.
my tools have not arrived yet, but they are traceable shipments.

juvela

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have never found an adjustable cup with pin holes was not able to turn with the VAR tool Nr. 13

its pins are readily replaceable and it also works on headsets with pin holes



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jiangshi

That is for an ACH bottom bracket, like a Veloce sealed bottom bracket, not an older Record style.

jonny7

oh you're absolutely right. I was seduced by the design and thought it'd fit. I actually didn't know much about the ACH design.

But LeCycleur's tool is pretty similar! maybe there are some other similar options out there (i.e. 6 pin tools)

wesmamyke

You can find some six pin tools for loose ball bottom brackets. The Royce one is probably the most common, although I'm not sure it fits anything else. I have a couple odd ones, one is very cheap and for some kind of BMX crank/BB. The other is almost like a fixed cup tool, it can be threaded onto the cup to prevent slipping.

repechage

note the LeCycleur tool has provisions for two pin hole circle dimensions - Campagnolo and one other and I did not bother to note, Shimano?TA? Sugino matches Campagnolo.
the cited material for the bolts/ pins is pretty stout- the problem is the size- but by engaging all six- that should help.

if the adjustable cup is not threading in, chase the threads. If trouble removing it? Kroil soak for a warm day or two then dry ice to the cup.
wear thick gloves, or use tongs

Schlafen

That would be pretty easy to make for cheap.
I would consider making it a 6 pin though, not 2 pin.
After which I would fit the axle back in and use the bolt to counter it so it doesn't slip out. Half an hour tops to make I recon, if that.

verktyg 

That's a special tool for Campy Veloce, Mirage, Avanti, Centaur and Zenon sealed bearing BB cartridges that came out in 1994 and lasted into the 2000's.

They were made for both British and Italian threaded BBs, with 111mm double length and 115.5mm triple length asymmetrical spindles.

There were 3 quality levels:

AC-H - Aluminum Cups with hollow steel spindle (good)
AC-S - Aluminum Cups with solid steel spindle (OK)
SC-S - Steel Cups with solid steel spindle (cobby)

AC-H Cartridge

SC-S Cartridge

I bought a bunch of these BBs online for $15 to $20. You can still find them for ~$30. Some folks bad mouthed these but for the price and limited use they'd get, they're a no-brainer!

I HATE WORKING ON BBs!!!

Park makes this BBT-4 too to do the same thing. It's fine for occasional use. Installing these BBs is a "set it and forget it" operation. If I were doing a lot of work on these BBs, I get the "right" tool.



For adjustable cups with spanner pin holes these Park SPA-x Pin Spanners are easy to use and come in 2 sizes.



verktyg

jdawginsc 

Two screws into a piece of 1x3 wood cut to about 18”. Clamp and turn...experiment with screw length. File the screws a bit and viola! Custom made! (I also have an idea for an adjustable spanner that locks if there are any machinists out there.)

gearbasher

Campy made a two pin tool (expensive these days). Here is a park that looks a lot like it. Not sure if it will fit.

https://www.parktool.com/product/cra...ttom%20Bracket

repechage

I never bothered to look into those cartridge bottom brackets- too bad they ignored the French

seem to have a number of French bikes

verktyg 

By the time those inexpensive Campy cartridge BBs came along, French threaded BBs were pretty much étaient morts!

I have some French bikes from the early 80's with British BBs and headsets but I also have a 1985-86 Bertin with French threads.

At the other extreme, I have a 1974 Gitane TdF that came from Australia that has British threads???

BTW, the early Shimano UN-72 sealed bearing BB cartridges had removable cups on both sides. They worked with Phil Wood mounting rings so you could use them in French BBs, also for old British 26 tpi BBs.

verktyg

Mr. 66

Have you tried penetrant?

The bolt, nut and washer method of getting a better grip could do the trick.

Careful use of heat can also help. I'll put some grease at cup and heat the cup until the grease wicks into the thread. I had to do just this on the removal of the NDS cup on a 50 year old Jack Taylor. Things can get pretty warm, like hot to the touch, well before and paint damage.

dddd

Since the bb threads fit the cups with some amount of freeplay/clearance, and since this freeplay is upon installation only in the inward direction (cups moving inward in the shell), I think that compressing the cup(s) into the shell is the best way to initiate movement of the stuck cup(s).
Even if a bb cartridge is still installed, the compressive force will act to compress the cartridge and thus allow the cups to move inward slightly, enough to break any corrosive bond (or perhaps hardened grease).

So I would try compressing the installed bb cups inward in a bench vise, to break their threads free in the shell.

Alternately, using impact directed in the same direction, forcing the stuck cup(s) into the shell, should allow the cup(s) to then be twisted out using moderate torque.
But I would back up the opposite cup with a chunk of wood resting on a concrete floor, to increase the return on one's effort.

Ex Pres 

I am going to ask what I hope is a stupid question - you have removed the lockring, right?

jonny7

If only this was the problem

repechage

another approach might be to remove the fixed cup, its French, they want to unwind naturally, remove the spindle and bearings, then use the Sheldon brown method of unwinding the fixed cup.
I would secure the bottom bracket wrench against the cup with a block of wood, 8mm bolt and a fender washer.

jonny7

You're right, since it's a French BB I hoped the fixed cup would unwind with less effort, but as of now I've had no success with either cup.

Thanks everybody for the advice, I'll continue my efforts and make sure to post and update.

jdawginsc 

Time for RJ the BIke guy and his impact wrench!