Play in Bottom Bracket - Please Help!

[LeighRowley]

Hi there

I hope someone can be of assistance.

I am currently in the process of rebuilding an old raleigh racing frame but am having some issues with the cup and cone bottom bracket it currently has.

I have removed the cup from the right-hand side/drive side and have taken the lockring from the left side but have been told to leave the left cup in place. i have cleaned the shell and replaced the bearings but the spindle still has about 1-2mm of play. The right-hand cup is fully tightened and the left side wont move (regardless of my many attempts)

Does anyone have any suggestions to eradicate this movement??

Leigh

[GeorgeET]

Ye rebuilding old cone and bearing BB can be a PITA. I went through that with my Fuji del Rey.

Could not get one side off and to load free bearings and get them to stay from opposite side was not a good option. The dealer used some heat and heavy duty tools with a screw through bolt keeping the tool in place.

I went with the Shimano UN54 sealed BB rather than struggle with the current BB.

AS per your attempt surprised you got the right (drive side ) off. Usually its the left side that comes off. However you need to tighten on the left side. Not sure why freeplay now but obviously it was tighter before.

Do not know what type tool you need to tighten it (photo) but try soaking over night with a penetrant like liquid wrench or Kroil, tap a few times than put the tool on keep it tight and give a few taps with a hammer. If you have a butane torch try heating it too . If that does not do it take it apart again use the tool and put a long bolt with large washers on both sides trough the BB to tighten and hold tool in place than after soaking tap to loosen. Reassemble again and now you can tighten it.

IMO go with the UN54 BB.

[DaveM]

+1 You have to get that left side cup out either way. There's no way to adjust the BB without moving it and if you ride it that loose, the cup's bearing surface will get destroyed fairly quick anyway.

[LeighRowley]

Hi again

Thanks for the advice, ive managed to remove the left side cup through a lot of brute force and a hammer but have pretty much destroyed it in the process.

I have opted to replace the whole thing with a 68mm square tapered sealed bottom bracket (Shimano UN54 - Thanks GeorgeET)

The bike should be raring to go in no time.

Many Thanks

[GeorgeET]

Ye, good call. Its what I did after examining the options and the fact that repair parts were NLA. I went through restoring the wheels hubs and after all the costs and time spent looking for parts next time I'll get new wheels. Although now they are all set up for lots of miles.

The UN54 is a good BB . I decided to let the dealer do it since I needed more tools for it. Also dealer installed has warranty. Cost me $50 installed, $25 UN54/$25 labor.

[GeorgeET]

Hard to say. What parts did you replace. Are the bearings correct size?

[GeorgeET]

The question still holds, What did you change, there is no magic. Go through your set up and make sure everything is seated and tight. Maybe it was loose before too. Than you need to reset entire BB, or replace with modern sealed unit.