How many loose bearings do you put in a bottom bracket?

[Chris S]

An article by Sheldon Brown recommended 11 on each side. When I did this they wedged themselves into a solid ring during the initial adjustment.

Other articles recommend 10 on each side. If I did this they wouldn't be evenly spaced out and getting rid of all the freeplay would be problematic.

I would appreciate answers from personal experience.

 

[midlife]

1/4" balls 11 a side usually. Depends on the bottom bracket though. What is it?

 

[Dogtrousers]

Or put a caged set in. Then you won't have any choice.

Answer from experience: I put the same number in as I took out. Often they have been in cages. Sorry, you didn't specify useful experience.

 

[byegad]

The golden rule for bearings is to see how many will actually fit, and then take one out.

 

[midlife]

Some BB take 5/16”.

 

[MontyVeda]

like this?

 

[Chris S]

1/4" balls 11 a side usually. Depends on the bottom bracket though. What is it?

It's a 1990 Raleigh Chiltern with 1/4" ball bearings.

 

[Chris S]

The golden rule for bearings is to see how many will actually fit, and then take one out.

like this?

View attachment 604724

Unfortunately these answers contradict each other. There isn't space for another bearing in the diagram.

 

[midlife]

It's a 1990 Raleigh Chiltern with 1/4" ball bearings.

I guess it's the original bottom bracket, is it a cottered chainset?

 

[Chris S]

I guess it's the original bottom bracket, is it a cottered chainset?

No - it's one of the later models. I've bought a new spindle and I'm replacing the bearings at the same time.
The bike originally had 8 caged bearings on each side. I've tried 11 or 10 bearings over the past few years. Both seem to have their drawbacks.

 

[midlife]

That's odd, caged bearings for 1/4" balls usually have 9.weldtite for example. Wonder what make of bottom bracket it is?

 

[Chris S]

Whatever Raleigh could find at the time, it doesn't use their proprietary threading.

Anyway, since nobody seems to know how many loose bearings to use I'll stick with 11 on each side and be careful not to over-tighten it during the initial adjustment.

 

[MontyVeda]

Unfortunately these answers contradict each other. There isn't space for another bearing in the diagram.

put as many in as will comfortably fit. It doesn't matter if there's a small space. It does matter if they're crammed in, or if there's clearly too few.

 

[Gunk]

I personally prefer loose bearings, I have huge pots of them in all sizes, all my Vintage restorations have loose bearings in, once greased and tightened properly they’ll run like silk.

My personal practice is to just leave one out, it’s not an exact science