Bottom bracket removal

[Yellow Saddle]

If you're still stuck, Sheldon Brown has an excellent method using a big nut and bolt. http://sheldonbrown.com/tooltips/bbcups.html
Scroll down to "Fixed Cup Tools".

NIce tip.

Sheldon obviously didn't have a welding machine. We had a basket case on our workshop once where the owner didn't realize it was a reverse thread and thightened the living hell out of the BB. I welded a piece of flat bar to the cup and then turned it. The BB was never the same again.

 

[SSmatty]

That sheldon brown tip is s good one.
I did think of welding a piece of flat bar to it as well.
At the minute I have designed my own BB wrench in my head that i can make, but the Sheldon Brown one might be easier.

and its just occurred to me I have a load of M16 studdng and nuts, so all I need is some lock washers.

 

[Gravity Aided]

I used the Sheldon Brown Tool when I had to redo the BB on my Fuji Tourer, and have since used it on a couple of basket cases at the bike rehab. Absolutely fantastic. You may need a good long wrench or a breaker bar for that.

 

[SSmatty]

I had a go with the Sheldon Brown method at the weekend, and the tool kept slipping, so will need a bit more force I think.
I will wait until I can get the frame set up securely on a workbench.

 

[PpPete]

Don't do what I did and have the frame on a workstand. Between me tightening the nut and the boy holding the bolt - both of us with big fookin breaker bars on the end of our wrenches we put enough torque through it that it cracked the casting at the foot of the workstand. Good excuse to buy a nicer worksstand so I wouldnt have minded that much, but the fixed cup didn't move at all.

 

[Gravity Aided]

When you are at that point, it is time for the pentetrating oil.

 

[Tony Raynor]

Just been having my own run in with a bottom bracket cup. Used physics to eventually get it out. The hardest part is stopping the tool from slipping off, whether it's the old style like yours or one of the splined shimano types.

I used a large washer and a bolt to keep the tool on and a 5 ft scaffold pipe over the end of the wrench/t bar.

Had taken the bike into the lbs and they couldn't remove it. Took me literally 3 minutes with that beautiful scaffold pipe.

One last mention, bike wasn't viced or anything but I did put an old pair of wheels on just in case. Makes it easy to apply downward pressure.

 

[SSmatty]

Just been having my own run in with a bottom bracket cup. Used physics to eventually get it out. The hardest part is stopping the tool from slipping off, whether it's the old style like yours or one of the splined shimano types.

I used a large washer and a bolt to keep the tool on and a 5 ft scaffold pipe over the end of the wrench/t bar.

Had taken the bike into the lbs and they couldn't remove it. Took me literally 3 minutes with that beautiful scaffold pipe.

One last mention, bike wasn't viced or anything but I did put an old pair of wheels on just in case. Makes it easy to apply downward pressure.

I think using the wheels is a good idea.
I was thinking that way already, as clamping the frame could result in bent or kinked tubes.

 

[Tim Hall]

I think using the wheels is a good idea.
I was thinking that way already, as clamping the frame could result in bent or kinked tubes.

Definitely a good idea, for exactly the reasons you suggest.

And a very good idea to bolt the tool in place, especially with the splined Shimano type, otherwise the tool slips and chews the splines up, with hilarious results.

 

[SSmatty]

Definitely a good idea, for exactly the reasons you suggest.

And a very good idea to bolt the tool in place, especially with the splined Shimano type, otherwise the tool slips and chews the splines up, with hilarious results.

My Tool (fnarr fnarr!) is a bolt through the BB cup. No danger of it slipping off, though it is currently slipping against the cup itself.

 

[SSmatty]

Well I really wanted this to work.
But after lots of torque on extended wrenches, no joy.
And here's why.
The cup is so stuck it would rather crush the washers.
That is M16 by the way, not lightweight stuff.
I am dealing with a stubborn BB!

 

[SSmatty]

I have a plan C though.

 

[Tony Raynor]

@SSmatty put the spindle back in and the other cup. Use your adjustable on the stuck side with some of those washers to keep it fiat and put the spindle bolt/nut to keep it tight. Then get some scaffold pipe and it will come out. Extender bars aren't long enough you need something 4 to 5 ft long to get enough leverage.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Betwixt the lockwashers and the cup, on both sides of the cup, place a flat washer, that may help a bit also. A good sized flat washer, about the size of the cup. In the States, we call them fender washers.

 

[JMAG]

The bolt and lock washers failed to work for me on a stubborn cup as it kept slipping, but I used an oversized washer to hold a large adjustable wrench in place and that did the trick.