Bottom Bracket Bearing Lifetime

harringtonp

How long should these last ?

Replaced the BB in my main bike in June last year with

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/rotor-pf46-steel-road-bottom-bracket/rp-prod130572

Was fine over the summer, then put the bike away and discovered that one of the bearings has completely seized.

Cee-Jay-Cee

They should have lasted longer than that. I would expect to get at least 10k kms absolute minimum from a branded BB like Rotor but like everything some may last longer than others depending on the conditions they are used/stored in.

harringtonp

Cee-Jay-Cee wrote: »

They should have lasted longer than that. I would expect to get at least 10k kms absolute minimum from a branded BB like Rotor but like everything some may last longer than others depending on the conditions they are used/stored in.

Yes the bearing just completely seized rather the falling apart, the drive side one is still as good as new. While using the bike I hadn't noticed anything, it only happened after it was left lying there and I have been unable to free the bearing.

Type 17

Sounds like water had got inside the BB shell of your frame, and when you put it away the water rusted the bearings up (was the bike leaning towards the non-drive side?)

saccades

Jet wash or over torqued when fitting unless you have been crossing fords.

Dr_Colossus

I just replaced mine this morning with about 50k km on the old one and never once touched over that distance, only started getting some play on the drive side in the past few weeks.
Absolute nightmare to remove and a simple job become time consuming as the force I was exerting on the tool started gouging into the aluminum splines and stripping them. Was afraid of damaging the carbon frame but after finally freeing the drive side the alloy threads in the frame at least explained the seized bearing housings. For the left side I eventually had to cut two channels out of the housing to gain some traction for a large adjustable wrench.

Replaced with this and reckon I could be lucky to get half the previous distance but time will tell.
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/shimano-ultegra-6800-bottom-bracket/rp-prod108701

harringtonp

Type 17 wrote: »

Sounds like water had got inside the BB shell of your frame, and when you put it away the water rusted the bearings up (was the bike leaning towards the non-drive side?)

Mechanic replaced bearing. There were 2 spacers missing on crankset which meant there was a small gap and a tiny bit of side to side play. It didn't affect the cycling but he reckons would have contributed to water ingress

Type 17

Not sure about lack of spacers causing water ingress, but the correct spacers/preload setup is essential on cartridge bearings - lack of preload leads to excessive wear (which may subsequently allow water ingress as the resulting play in the bearing races allows water to beat the seals).

Details of BB preload: Park tool BB video - starts at preload bit

harringtonp

Well. I bought these bearings

https://www.bearing-king.co.uk/bearing/mr2437-llb-enduro-bearing-abec-3/17126

and brought them to my mechanic who replaced them on the spot for me. He reckoned a spacer was missing and put in a spacer on both sides. Heard a high pitched sound during the week, went looking for it and found the drive side bearing is rough as you can hear below:

https://youtu.be/w0zaqzmSUmU

The bearing quality looked good to me, maybe somebody has an opinion on this before I order another 2 ? The non drive side is still as smooth as silk (as you would say)

That video on preloading is interesting and may be the source of the problem but I'm not sure how to solve it or what to suggest to my mechanic when I bring the new bearings. Any ideas in this specific case ?

The bike BTW wasn't used over the winter, it came out of storage in March but has been used a fair bit since then. Even still, this is only a few months usage.

JimmiesRustled

harringtonp wrote: »

Well. I bought these bearings

https://www.bearing-king.co.uk/bearing/mr2437-llb-enduro-bearing-abec-3/17126

and brought them to my mechanic who replaced them on the spot for me. He reckoned a spacer was missing and put in a spacer on both sides. Heard a high pitched sound during the week, went looking for it and found the drive side bearing is rough as you can hear below:

https://youtu.be/w0zaqzmSUmU

The bearing quality looked good to me, maybe somebody has an opinion on this before I order another 2 ? The non drive side is still as smooth as silk (as you would say)

That video on preloading is interesting and may be the source of the problem but I'm not sure how to solve it or what to suggest to my mechanic when I bring the new bearings. Any ideas in this specific case ?

The bike BTW wasn't used over the winter, it came out of storage in March but has been used a fair bit since then. Even still, this is only a few months usage.

Are the bearings pre loaded on the DS? Any wavy washer or anything like that? What crankset are you using with it?

Type 17

Reading the thread back, and listening to the squeakiness of the vid soundtrack, it sounds like the same thing has happened again - bike left in storage with water in the frame(?) which has crept into one side of the BB, drying out the bearing and making it rusty inside.

Looking at the bearing number in the pic, you could order a few of these and throw them in every so often. Also, you can pop the seals off to see if there is rust and/or moisture and/or wear, and inject some grease.

Edit: Maybe get the LLU version of that size of bearing - a tiny bit more friction, but a better seal-level as a result.

harringtonp

Yes, will probably order a few this time and just change the one that is bad, rather than both at a time. The only unfortunate thing is I don't have the tools and need to drive to a mechanic (joys of living in the sticks).

Last time the seizure was immediately after a long period of storage. This time I first noticed it on a training spin on Tuesday and had been using the bike regularly (average 4 times a week) since March. What is interesting though is last Sunday was very wet and I left it in the van without drying and it would have been tilted towards the drive side. So if there was water in the bottom bracket, that is the side it would have collected on. At least now that I am aware of that, I can give it a good shake after future similar weather.

saccades

Gxp about as long as typing this.
HT1 - years.
HT2 - over 12 months.
Isis - similar to gxp
Square taper - probably years but you'd never remove if it stayed in that long.

Weepsie

I've a 4year old gxp with quite a lot of km in it. Still going strong. Now's it's the good bike, and it's the ceramic bearings so maybe that makes a difference, but still.

I've changed all the other ones in that time

deandean

I've actually never changed the BB on my road bike.
I get about 12 months out of the BB on my MTB (they get hammered).
I'd say you had water ingress.

harringtonp

Wondering where/how water gets in. It is internal cable routing on a carbon frame so maybe the places were cables enter and exit.

Any tips apart from a good shake after a spin to get water out. I can think of removing saddle post and turning upside down but that is hassle and there is always the risk of tightening it wrong again (have had a race messed due to post sinking during it)

2 Wheels Good

saccades wrote: »

Gxp about as long as typing this.
HT1 - years.
HT2 - over 12 months.
Isis - similar to gxp
Square taper - probably years but you'd never remove if it stayed in that long.

Recently replaced my 28yr old square taper BB off my old mountain bike. It took a bit of work but got it off ok.

harringtonp

Type 17 wrote: »

Looking at the bearing number in the pic, you could order a few of these and throw them in every so often.

On bearing see wych are not delivering outside the UK at the moment even though they normally do. Ordered from bearingking but got an email back telling me it will be a couple of weeks before they get them in. They offered a refund but I will wait for them.

Is there anyone in Ireland whose bearing offerings cover bikes ?

Type 17

Once you know the bearing number, and you do (they won't know what fits any given application on a car or bike), then give Reliance Bearing a call. They'll send stuff by courier (a bit pricey, but very handy) if you don't want to call to them.