ironwood

It's a forty year old crank, and if the previous owners took good care of it, they may have overhauled the BB forty times or so if rhey did an annual overhaul. Forty tightenings might have bottomed out the crank. I wonder how much longer my 49D will be usable.

Johno59

Another possibility is the odd Stronglight crank extractor diameter meant the bearings were changed way too late too often. Guess how I know about that problem and its consequences?

jcb3

I’ve had good luck using small aluminum shims (2 little squares - on adjacent faces) between the spindle and crank on a Stronglight that was bottoming out.

cudak888 

@amillhench, the advice being given to you up above is well-meaning, but they're shooting darts to the wind without photos.

Can you install the cranks, take out the installer bolts, and take pictures of the taper inside after installation? If it's visibly bottomed out, we'll know - and not be guessing - whether the crank arms are bottomed out or not.

-Kurt

mpetry912 

What Cuda and others said above. You're getting lots of good advice but without pics or measurements the chances of us helping you solve the problem is small.

To me it sounds like the two possibilities are - you have the spindle in backwards or the arms are bottomed out on the tapers.

Stronglight cranks are tricky. The alloy is very soft, and the arms require a crank extractor that is unique to the brand. Use of other extractors will probably strip the threads. You also need to be careful to not over torque the bolt. That's a whole separate discussion.

Let's see a nice tight close up of the spindle's penetration inside the arm (take the bolt out). and let's see a pic of the drive side arm as it is installed now.

then, take the arms off (carefully, with the correct tool) and measure the spindle - how far it sticks out on both sides. And let's see a pic of the backside of the arms, showing the square where the spindle goes in.

With this information, we may be able to help.

Mark Petry
Bainbridge Island, WA USA

clubman 

Very thin brass shim stock works as well.

amillhench

Alright, folks. This is what I have for now.

I think it it is a cup issue as @Johno59 stated. With the bearings in, the NDS taper does not clear the cup, hence the bottoming out. The photo showing this is after I over tightened the bearings just to see if it would clear. Then I removed NDS bearings, reinstalled cup, and put on the NDS crank. I don’t believe the taper is bottoming out, but y’all have much more experience than me. Pictures attached.

I’ll have to mess around with additional testing tomorrow as familial duties call! All the wisdom and input is greatly a

With NDS bearings removed.


With both bearings in. Inadequate taper clearance.


With NDS bearings removed, torqued, bolt removed.


Fixed side with both bearings in.
ppreciated.

mpetry912 

good pics, helpful. thank you. Are you QUITE sure you have the spindle in the right way? the "longer" side should go to the drive side of course. Usually the stampings on the spindle should be oriented so that "if you were looking down" from the saddle, they would be right side up. Make sense ?

also in the one pic of the spindle in the arm, it looks to me like the spindle is "just about bottomed out" on the tapers. From the diagram above, on the 118 mm spindle - there is only 2mm difference between the drive and NDS side.

These cranks look like they have had a hard life. How does the running torque feel as you tighten the bolt ?

Mark Petry
Bainbridge Island, WA USA

Johno59

Wow, that bearing race is stuck way way too far out. If the ball bearings are properly seated you have the wrong axle. That axle is meant for a BB shell much wider.

madpogue 

^^^^^^ I was thinking the same thing, but the OP says it's the original spindle, in post # 1.

SurferRosa

Like I said... OP doesn't know if this bb setup ever worked properly to begin.

cudak888 

This is a trifecta of every possible issue:

• Spindle bearing races are too far apart.
• Cups are too thick
• Non-drive side crank is bottomed out

That spindle is made for the equivalent of thin cups. The cups you have (which, if my memory serves me right, are Stronglight) are thick cups made for a spindle with a narrower distance between the bearing races.

You've got to either replace the cups or the spindle. Then you've got to find yourself another left hand arm, though chances are the right side one has bottomed out too.

Even though everything appears to be original here, I'm entirely comfortable in saying that it isn't. Someone probably threw together whatever in their parts bin said "Stronglight" into something that, at first glance, looked like matching parts. Some bits may be original, but who knows which? Doesn't really matter at this point - all you need to get now are the correct bits.

-Kurt

Johno59

As a poss get any old road axle and see if your problems disappear

Salamandrine 

Yeah, all that. ^^^^^

Also, the BB may have been faced down excessively at some point. I've seen this issue before. The BB shell should be measured, or else you're just flying blind.

Those crankarms might be salvageable by using a JIS BB, maybe. It will be close. Stronglight is just a hair smaller than JIS IME. Might be enough to mount without bottoming out, just. No grease and loctite on the bolts for sure.

amillhench

I forgot to mention the BB shell is measuring a hair under 67mm.

JesseABN

I appreciate this advice. Do you use a spanner to tighten the BB lock ring?

bikemig 

It does seem as if the NDS crank arm taper is a bit shot as others have pointed out. I'd try a 120 mm Stronglight spindle since that too was used for doubles. I prefer going a bit longer with the axle for stronglight cranks.

ramzilla

I always use the proper wrench or spanner whenever possible.

But, bottom bracket NDS lock rings can be adjusted with a pair of channel lock pliers if necessary. Just don't start crying if you mar the pretty grooves a bit.

dddd

Hey, y'all, this is a 4-year-old "necro"-thread!

The OP was clearly dealing with a case of a wallered-out left arm, seemingly nothing else to my eye.

I woulda shimmed it or used a symmetrical 115mm JIS bottom bracket (which worked splendidly in my own 1979 PX10 Super Competition after I "worked" the BSA alloy cups into my Swiss-threaded bb shell). That was over ten years ago and I've ridden the bike hard in these foothills several times per year since then without touching the bb.

Dboyle

I had the same problem while restoring my Raleigh RRA. I think it’s the same problem anyway. Simply flip the spindle and insert it into the BB. That provided the right clearances for me. Counter intuitive but it worked.

francopedia

i realize this thread originated about 5 years ago, but your problem is the bottom bracket threading on your frame.

i had the same model/era Lejeune Pro and the same problem. My frame threading wore out on the fixed cup side.

French and Italian bikes are vulnerable to this as the threads are clockwise instead of British/Swiss threading being counter-clockwise. Because of clockwise threading, there's a tendency for the fixed cup to loosen/back off and cause damage to the frame. It is suggested that new French and Italian bikes be locktited on the fixed side.hat is t
he meaning of the word tendency?
Evidence that your fixed cup is NOT original to the bb.is that it doesn't have a 12 point shape for wrench fitting. Instead, it has the later (campy style) double flats. Also, the coded circle around the cup indicates Italian. French fixed cups have no circle.

The forum won't allow me to add a photo or URL, but if you search "Stronglight 49 93 ITALIAN bottom on ebay," you should get a hit for it and can see the pics.

My Lejeune frame also wore out on the fixed cup side. It was repaired by (adding brass) and tapping the drive side from French to the larger diameter Italian threading. Perhaps when repaired, your bb was not aligned properly. I suppose the solution is to take your frame to a frame builder and have the repair repeated and done correctly--with added brass.
Scott

francopedia

i realize this thread originally began about 5 years ago, but your problem is the bottom bracket on your frame. i had the same model/era Lejeune Pro and same problem. My BB threading on the frame wore out on the fixed cup. French bikes are vulnerable to this as the threading clockwise instead of British/Swiss being counter-clockwise. Because French threads are clockwise there's a tendency for the fixed cup to loosen/back off and cause damage to the frame hat is the meaning of the word tendency?
Your fixed cup is NOT original to the bb. It should have a 12 point shape for wrench fitting. And the coded circle around the cup indicates Italian. French has no circle.

My Lejeune frame threading also wore out on the fixed cup side. It was repaired by (adding brass) and tapping the drive side to Italian. Perhaps when repaired, the bb was not aligned properly. I suppose the solution is take your frame to a frame builder and have the repair repeated and done correctly--with added brass.
I attached a photo of bb Italian as coded with a circle