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Bottom bracket and crank

Old 06-17-22, 06:01 PM
  #1  
Hermitude
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Bottom bracket and crank

First posting here. Recently my bike started making a creaking whine when I put enough force into the left pedal. Thinking it was the ball bearings, I tried to spray some grease into the bottom bracket, but it didn't help at all. I'm not sure whether it's the bottom bracket or maybe the crank itself. It's a bit expensive to have a mechanic look at it locally, and I was wondering if someone here could take a look beforehand. I made a short 8sec video of it (mostly for the creaking sound) and attached it.


Do you think that it's the bottom bracket or the crank? I just wanted to have an informed opinion when I go talk to the bike mechanic about it, that's all.
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File Type: zip
creaking-sound.zip (16.04 MB, 11 views)
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Old 06-17-22, 07:02 PM
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Let the bike mechanic take a first-hand, physical look at it and give you a truly informed opinion. Diagnosing noises online is pointless. A decent shop wrench will show you what the cause is and explain the remedy.
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Old 06-18-22, 03:29 AM
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Sounds to me like the crank needs to be taken off, cleaned and inspected. If all races, bearings, threads etc are in good condition then they can be regreased and reinstalled.
Cross the bridge of worn/broken parts as you find them.
It's not a big job if you have tools etc.
However, if it's not your cup of tea then the bike shop is your only option.
Are you happy to strip it down yourself?
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Old 06-18-22, 08:10 PM
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I have enough mechanical knowledge and confidence to remove the bracket, clean it, and re-install if it is intact. In my own limited experience a good cleaning fixes a lot of these creaky noise issues. Or perhaps one of the steel balls needs replacement.

But I have never done this for a bottom bracket bearing before. Are there any bicycle-specific wrenches, sockets, or torx drivers required? I just have basic home/appliance repair stuff.
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Old 06-18-22, 08:46 PM
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Originally Posted by Hermitude
Are there any bicycle-specific wrenches, sockets, or torx drivers required?
Depends on the bottom bracket you have. Post a picture and someone will certainly tell you what you need.

Edit: The board will tell you that you can't post pictures, but you can upload them to your album. From there someone will help.
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Old 06-18-22, 09:04 PM
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There's no bottom bracket that won't need a special tool to remove, just a question of which and if you need a special tool for the crank. A decent range of metric allen wrenches is essential, and a good quality adjustable. Without pics, hard to say what you need.
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Old 06-19-22, 09:24 PM
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The site won't let me add more photo attachments to a thread until I've made 10 posts, sorry. The bike is a Jamis Aurora 2009.

There's a hex socket centered right on the crank axle so I may have to open it up and start exploring. I have a full set of metric and imperial Allen keys. I was concerned that once I get it out, there might be a customized wrench or even a machine press required to open and clean the bearing itself. Can anyone refute/confirm this? I presumed my neighborhood shop would either just replace it or not -- I don't really know.

Side question: I've been using "liquid wrench lithium grease" as a lubricant every couple months. It was probably a mistake. I think it may have accumulated salt and that's been the major factor. It's also probably water-friendly and led to some corrosion. What's a better bracket/chain lubricant? I'd be ordering from Amzn.
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Old 06-19-22, 10:33 PM
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2009 Jamis catalog says it came with a 68 x 113mm FSA powerdrive bottom bracket.
non serviceable remove & replace cartridge unit. Get the proper tool to remove the crank and BB and drop a new BB in.
That assumes nothing has been changed since the bike was new
https://planetcyclery.com/fsa-bb-set...MaAsZHEALw_wcB
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Old 06-19-22, 10:49 PM
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Originally Posted by dedhed
2009 Get the proper tool to remove the crank and BB and drop a new BB in.
Cheers I will be doing this.
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Old 06-20-22, 06:29 AM
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Before you go through the trouble, see if the noise goes away when you pedal while standing up. If it does, the noise is coming from your saddle. It's amazing how sounds from the saddle telegraph into the bottom bracket. Many have been fooled by that.
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Old 06-20-22, 06:51 AM
  #11  
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Originally Posted by andrewclaus
Before you go through the trouble, see if the noise goes away when you pedal while standing up. If it does, the noise is coming from your saddle. It's amazing how sounds from the saddle telegraph into the bottom bracket. Many have been fooled by that.
Bottom brackets are sometimes blamed for noises that come from other parts of the bike. I had a creak that I thought was coming from the bottom bracket of my Look 481SL every time I pushed hard. I removed, inspected and reinstalled the bottom bracket with no success. Turned out the noise was coming form the adjustable rear dropouts. After I cleaned up dirt trapped between the removable dropout and frame all was silent and has remained that way for many years.
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Old 06-20-22, 01:48 PM
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Originally Posted by Hermitude
The site won't let me add more photo attachments to a thread until I've made 10 posts, sorry.
As Chuck M noted in his edit above, you should be able to post photos to your forum album. From there, another forum member with +10 posts should be able to assist by linking to them in a comment here.

That would be best. There are multiple types of bottom bracket, and different types often require a removal tool specific to that type.
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Old 06-20-22, 02:01 PM
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I've put pictures of the crank in an album: 25407413

Linking directly doesn't seem to work either.
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Old 06-20-22, 07:29 PM
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Originally Posted by Hermitude
I've put pictures of the crank in an album: 25407413

Linking directly doesn't seem to work either.
You won't be able to post any links until you have 10+ posts. Assist with links to photos in your album follows:

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...efdfbbfaae.jpg

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...ae13fda666.jpg

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...bdd47e746b.jpg

You've posted pictures of your DS crank and the bottom bracket shell. The bottom bracket is inside the shell. To see the external ends of the bottom bracket cups and spindle - which is necessary to determine what tool is required for bottom bracket removal - you'll need to remove the cranks. Removing just the crank bolts will expose the end of the spindle and might allow identification of the type of crank-spindle interface (square/ISIS/Octalink/other).

To remove the cranks after removing the crank bolts, you'll need a crank puller. However, see the important caveat about crank pullers below.

The crank is marked "Power Drive" and appears to be a FSA Vero crank. I think that means it uses a FSA Power Drive bottom bracket - which has a splined interface to the cranks vice square taper or Octalink splined. I'm not terribly familiar with them; I believe the spline pattern may have been FSA proprietary, but I'm not certain. I also think (but am also not certain) that type of BB uses the same type of bottom bracket removal tool as Shimano cartridge bottom brackets.

However, I'm not sure whether it requires a crank puller that's compatible with square taper or ISIS/Octalink splined cranks. Perhaps someone here has more knowledge about the Power Drive bottom bracket than I do and can assist further.

I could also be wrong about all of the above. With the crank bolts and cranks in place, we really can't tell much more.

If the crankset is marked with a model number somewhere, you might be able to work backwards from that and determine what type of bottom bracket it uses with certainty. The "Power Drive" marking is highly suggestive, but may not necessarily be definitive. Unfortunately, some versions of the Vero crankset were also made with square taper spindle interface (and may also have been made with ISIS spindle interface).

IF (and that's a big if) the bottom bracket is indeed an FSA Power Drive bottom bracket, you may find the info at this link useful. (The procedure is generally applicable to other types of cartridge-type bottom brackets as well.)

https://shop.fullspeedahead.com/en/f...5499756e3c043/

Last edited by Hondo6; 06-20-22 at 08:30 PM.
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Old 06-21-22, 09:39 AM
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Originally Posted by Hondo6
...
IF (and that's a big if) the bottom bracket is indeed an FSA Power Drive bottom bracket, you may find the info at this link useful. (The procedure is generally applicable to other types of cartridge-type bottom brackets as well.)
I read all of this three times. These are great leads, thank you. I was planning to buy myself a few bike tools (chain removal etc). But after looking at the BB assembly I know I'll reach a hard stop trying to do a full cleaning myself. If the tool is similar to the Shimano line then my local bike shop should be able to do a replacement.

Kudos also to the people that pointed out that the noise might be coming from a different source. It isn't however. And the loudness of it is proportionate to the amount of force I apply to the left pedal.
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Old 06-21-22, 12:56 PM
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Originally Posted by Hermitude
I read all of this three times. These are great leads, thank you. I was planning to buy myself a few bike tools (chain removal etc). But after looking at the BB assembly I know I'll reach a hard stop trying to do a full cleaning myself. If the tool is similar to the Shimano line then my local bike shop should be able to do a replacement.

Kudos also to the people that pointed out that the noise might be coming from a different source. It isn't however. And the loudness of it is proportionate to the amount of force I apply to the left pedal.
Letting the local shop replace the bottom bracket with a new one (a cartridge bottom bracket generally is not user-serviceable) might be the way to go. That job can be a pain.

However: be forewarned that if your crankset uses a Power Drive bottom bracket, your local shop may well have to order one. They're still available; FSA's website still offers them for sale, and they're available from other online sources also. But I think they're fairly uncommon, and I'd guess your local shop won't have them in stock. (If your crankset turns out to be square taper, you might be in luck; those are more common, and your local shop may have them in stock.) In either case, the correct spindle length for your crankset will be required.

FWIW: if you have your local shop replace the bottom bracket, you might want to ask the local shop to keep the old cartridge they removed and give it to you when you pick up the bike. The info necessary to order another one (model number, spindle type, shell width, spindle length, etc . . . ) should be printed on/embossed into the cartridge shell or otherwise visually apparent. That info would enable you to order a spare. IMO that's not a bad idea if you can spare the cash, since cartridge bottom brackets eventually do wear out.

Last edited by Hondo6; 06-21-22 at 01:08 PM.
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Old 06-21-22, 02:59 PM
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Awesome thanks everyone!!
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