19
Warning: That "easy" bottom bracket removal took me 6 hours
I had a cartridge bottom bracket seize up on a 2005 Trek that had been sitting in a garage for years. I thought it would be a 20 minute job, spray some WD40, pop it out with the Park Tool BBT-9, no big deal. After an hour of cranking with a breaker bar, the tool started slipping and rounded out the splines. I tried the trick with the bolt and socket from an old crank arm, but that just stripped more. Eventually I had to drill out the nylon sleeve and use a punch to hammer the thing out piece by piece. Has anyone else dealt with a bottom bracket that took way longer than it should have, and what was your final trick to get it out?
2 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In2 Comments
emma_flores1mo ago
Oh man, that sucks. One thing though - a Park Tool BBT-9 is actually for two-pin external bearing cups, not cartridge bottom brackets. Cartridge ones need something like the BBT-22 or a splined tool that fits the lockring. If you were using the wrong tool from the start it probably would have slipped no matter what. I've had good luck with a big pipe wrench and a cheater bar on seized cartridges after soaking them in PB Blaster overnight, but you gotta be careful not to crush the frame.
8
knight.felix1mo ago
Three years ago I had a similar fight with a seized Shimano cartridge on a 90s Raleigh. I finally gave up on the spline tool and used a heavy duty punch and a five pound sledge to break the aluminum cup into chunks from the inside. It was loud and messy but the whole thing came out in about twenty minutes after hours of frustration.
1