Creaky Press Fit BB

[Top Fuel]

I have a new bike that takes a press-fit BB. The first time around I coated the inner of the bike and outer shell of the BB with Copper Slip. I heard this was the stuff to use to stop the creaking and ceaseing of the BB to the frame. No go. It creaked. So took it out cleaned it all up and tried grease. Seems to be the same problem. Anyone got any ideas on what to use to stop this. It is only when I am standing or putting extreme force on the crank. It is all the correct fittings and tightened to the correct values. Any usefull info here would be much appreciated. Thanks

[David Marshall]

Try ptfe plumbing tape - I've also used very thin aluminium cut from an imported beer can (local ones are too thick) to fit creaking headset inserts into a head tube. May work.

[AndreZA]

What cranks are you using? I had tighten my Ultegra cranks' end cap a bit more then what the manual suggested to stop it from creaking.

 

Is it not maybe your pedals?

[Top Fuel]

PTFE as in thread tape? It is not the pedals. I have checked the crank and even tried to tighten a little more. Nothing seems to be working here. It is a very tight fit but still creaks. The BB is a sram one as is the crank. 3X10. The proper BB for it. It all fits just nice but there is the creak. It is pretty annoying but will try thread tape and see how this goes. It might just be the 2 types of material but I don't want to accept defeat here. There must be a way.

[Chain Wizard]

You also have to look at the bearing fitting inside the cups, i have found with some of the cups that the bearing inside the cup when applying force can be the reason for the creek. take the bearing out and copperslip it as wel as the outer of the cup. see if that helps

[Renier82]

You also have to look at the bearing fitting inside the cups, i have found with some of the cups that the bearing inside the cup when applying force can be the reason for the creek. take the bearing out and copperslip it as wel as the outer of the cup. see if that helps

i dont think copperslip+bearing is a good idea... the copperslip might seize it up?

copperslip and anything with thread is a good idea between metal+metal.

 

has too be something that is either too lose or too tight..

i suppose you will have to trial+error and write down exactly what you've done so that you can work through process of elimination.

 

goodluck.

[LEMOND]

Take a look at the LOCKTITE product cataloge they have a product to stop bearing drift, just make sure which one you use otherwise they will be a burger to take out.

[ichnusa]

the green locktite works well for outer races of bearings... but i must say that after all you have tried, to no avial, the problem might be somewhere else...

[The_Break]

the green locktite works well for outer races of bearings... but i must say that after all you have tried, to no avial, the problem might be somewhere else...

 

 

:) Like your seat!

[Top Fuel]

It is 100% the fitting of the cup inot the bike. It is a sealed bearing in the sram press fit bearing so not an option to open it. I just need to find a product that will stop the squeak without doing any damage to the press-fit. I will keep going with some suggestions here. Thanks for the options I will try them. It will not beat me.

[Sarge]

Yep,

Good luck, there is nothing at all as irritating as a creak somewhere in your bike.

Regards

Sarge

[AndreZA]

:) Like your seat!

 

He said it is when he is standing so the seat is ruled out.

[Top Fuel]

I think the issue maybe what the 2 items are made of!!! One is metal (the bike) and the other is the BB which seems to be some kind of very hard plastic. The way the sram BB works is on the OFF drive side. That is where most of the noise comes from. The left drive leg which I think in my case is my stronger leg. It might just need to bed in but I don't think so. Will call the agents for sram when they open next week and see what they can help me with. I have another BB so might try it and see what happens. There must be a product out there which prevents this from happening though. I will find it. Just a matter of going through the process.

[Renier82]

goodluck... i found out my "clicking" are my pedals which are now moeg...

[Top Fuel]

I wish I could say it was not the BB as that would make it easy to fix. I have done all the necessary and it is the BB. Tried 3 different sets of pedals and the same thing. They also don't make the noise on my other bike so easy to rule out.

[Johan Bornman]

You don't say which bike it is. Trek has had some issues with its Madone frames and at first replaced all the frames when customers complained and when that became too expensive, produced a pre-shimmed bearing for a better fit.

 

It is very, very difficult to shim such bearings since the shim slips when fitting the bearing and distorts, creating even more problems. Trek's solution was a shim that is somehow created from tube stock. It appears that they've fitted it with heat since the shim sits very nicely on the bearing and folds over both sides for an easy fit.

 

Perhaps you can obtain one of these bearings and ram it in there.

 

I've had success with bearing fixing anaerobic compound too. At first I feared the time when the bearing had to come out but with a proper drift and one smart smack it came out straight away.

 

Someone said that copperslip will seize up the bearing. No, it won't. It doesn't go inside, it goes on top.

 

Someone suggested PFTE tape. That won't work. The tape easily comes off when the bearing is pressed in.

 

Someone suggested local beer cans are made of alu. No, they're steel. Do some more research. Buy a tall glass, a magnet and 24 cans of each brand of beer. It can't hurt to perform a control experiment on the side with glass containers.