FAG bottom bracket removal

wrangler_rover · Post by **wrangler_rover** » 20 Aug 2007, 9:07pm

I have a raleigh pioneer, 10+ years old, bought 2 years ago.
Last year, it needed a new chainset and bottom bracket which was fitted at a local bike shop.
The chainset has lasted about 1500 miles of hard commuting, regularly changing from ring to ring on the front due to hills on my journey.
When I removed the chainset & took it to another bike shop (I wanted higher gears because last year, the LBS fitted a 22, 32, 42 chainset which was too low geared) the LBS couldn't source one with a similar offset, I tried a spare chainset at home but it touched the frame. I decided to bite the bullit and get a new bottom bracket and chainset, that's when the problems started!!!
The LBS last year fitted a cheap FAG bottom bracket, I tried removing it with 2 plumbers wrenches because I didn't have a spcial tool and I have totally mangled the resin collars. I have even drilled amall holes in the resin ends to try to use the ends of round nosed pliers but this doesn't work either.
Does anybody know a means of removing a FAG bottom bracket from a frame, if all else fails, I will try another LBS.

gnvqsos · Post by **gnvqsos** » 21 Aug 2007, 4:32pm

Buy the proper tool and try it.If not you could try different chainsets.You should know the width of the b bracket and I imagine the modern MTB chainsets wouldhave smaller offsets than the stuff from the 80s.Otherwise pay your LBS and learn theleson about proper tools.Are you a plumber by any chance or do you have a set of 'dogs' anyway

PW · Post by PW » 21 Aug 2007, 5:30pm

For future reference the old FAG tool is a dead fit on Campag square taper B/B units, so I suspect the reverse applies.

wrangler_rover · Post by **wrangler_rover** » 21 Aug 2007, 8:47pm

No, I'm not a plumber.
I have a copy of the haynes cycle manual which suggests that bottom brackets can be removed with a wrench in the absence of a proper tool.
That would have worked if the bottom bracket had a metal collar but having a resin collar it just got mangled. So it's off to the LBS to see if they can remove it then replace it with a decent bottom bracket & chainset.

leftpoole · Post by **leftpoole** » 21 Aug 2007, 9:47pm

Sorry, but it was actually a decent bottom bracket.
John.

wrangler_rover · Post by **wrangler_rover** » 21 Aug 2007, 10:23pm

OK, I shall change my terminology, delete the word "decent" and substitute the phrase "fit for purpose."
I took the worn chainset to a good lbs, left it with them and after several weeks of trying, they could not source a chainset with a similar offset that would fit on the FAG bottom bracket without fouling on the bike frame, so in my opinion, the bottom bracket that was fitted by the previous lbc is unfit for purpose because although there is nothing wrong with it, I cannot get a chainset that fits onto it without fouling the frame. So I am left with removing he bottom bracket, replacing it with a longer one and a new chainset. As I cannot remove the bottom bracket, I have little choice but to let another lbs do it and fit a longer bottom bracket and chainset.

leftpoole · Post by **leftpoole** » 22 Aug 2007, 8:48am

Hello,
OK.
Now to remove it.
Cut away as much as possible of each end plate.
Then whack as hard as you can with a hammer, one end of the bottom bracket metal centre.
It will shoot out the other side. Then you can easily remove/cut out the rest of the plastic.
The way to remove any bottom bracket is with the correct tool.
This is a remove a damaged bracket. It will work.
Learn by your mistakes as others have before you.
Good luck.
John.

CJ · Post by CJ » 22 Aug 2007, 4:03pm

john28july wrote:Then whack as hard as you can with a hammer, one end of the bottom bracket metal centre.
It will shoot out the other side.

Did you perchance ever work as a Center Parcs mechanic?

One of my contacts there tells the story of when the ATG cycle mechanic training guys came on a visit to show them all the right way to fix their rental bikes. ATG got out all the special tools and struggled for, ooh, quite a while, eventually unscrewing one completely worn-out bottom bracket unit, completely intact.

At this my friend said: "Very good, we do it like this", putting into the stand another bike with a dead b-b (from which he'd already removed the cranks), then promptly, to their horror, reaching for a big hammer and with two or three swift blows summarily ejecting the useless part in the manner described!

leftpoole · Post by **leftpoole** » 22 Aug 2007, 4:51pm

Chris,
In answer, no. But it has happened on a Brompton I purchased second or third hand. The bottom bracket was ripped about and I could not get the correct tool to grip it. So I perseveered and it worked fine. The plastic is actually quite brittle.
John.

meic · Post by **meic** » 22 Aug 2007, 11:59pm

I had to remove a FAG BB because they move around too much inside their plastic casings. Like you I mangled up the edges using the tool for opening the old cup and cone BB.
I eventually removed it by getting a pair of mole grips to bite into the remaining plastic.
I apologise for being so tedious but you have remembered that one of them will open by turning "the wrong way" haven't you?

meic · Post by **meic** » 23 Aug 2007, 12:04am

When you work out the length of your new BB it isnt enough just to clear the frame as I found that the front changer cant get near enough to the frame to shift onto the inner ring unless the rings are a bit further out.

wrangler_rover · Post by **wrangler_rover** » 23 Aug 2007, 9:09pm

Thank you all for the advice, I removed the bottom bracket tonight with a big hammer & supporting the frame against some thick wood. It came out after a few hits leaving the plastic ends behind, these were removed by forcing a screwdriver between the plastic & the frame.
The thread inside the frame is now possibly damaged but I will get a bottom bracket for damaged threads.
Incidentally, the bottom bracket that I removed was 107mm long.
I think that I will take the bike to a Raleigh bike shop to fit a new bottom bracket & chainset.

leftpoole · Post by **leftpoole** » 24 Aug 2007, 8:58am

Well done! I knew it worked but of course I expect that you worried a great deal before you hit that bracket out.
John.

gaz · Post by **gaz** » 28 Aug 2007, 9:10pm

Well done and it's all academic now but I'm sure that I heard of someone burning the cups out by blowtorch!

fpoh · Post by **fpoh** » 14 Jul 2010, 4:44pm

hi all,

new to this forum and looking forward to exchanging advice...

like wrangler-rover, i've got FAG BB issues. i got a nice Dawes 531 frame on ebay which i'm planning to build up as a single speed bike. unfortunately the BB was too long so i naively tried to remove it using a standard c-spanner...you know the rest!

following the advice above, i stripped off as much plastic as i could on both sides. i've been whacking it with a club hammer but it won't budge...help!

does anyone know what i'm doing wrong (don't say "you should have used the correct tool"!). why won't it pop out as described?

cheers,

frustrated fpoh

Cycling UK Forum

FAG bottom bracket removal

FAG bottom bracket removal

fag

Re: FAG bottom bracket removal