Preferred BB tool?

Phil said:

What do you guys use to crank down/up on botton bracket sockets? Namely,
the ones with ~30mm hex flats? I bought a 24" adjustable
wrench that works, but at the low price I bought it at, the metal's
made of putty and deforms pretty easily. I was going to buy a
Craftsman, but I'm curious as to what you guys use.

I would *never* use an adjustable wrench on a bicycle. Even with a Snap-On
or Craftsman there is just too much 'slop' and causes munged up flats.
You're a pro, buy the best tool for the job.

"Dave Thompson" wrote: I would *never* use an adjustable wrench on a
bicycle. (clip)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
*Never* is a very big word. I would avoid using an adjustable wrench if
there is any other option. In an emergency, I suggest tightening the wrench
onto the hex after it is in place, so it clamps on, and has virtually no
play left. Then, use the heel of your hand to keep it in place while you
turn the wrench. If it starts to slip, STOP. It helps to have two people.

OTOH, if it's something like an axle nut that is easily held and easily
replaced, just do it and don't sweat it.

A good adjustable wrench is WAY better than a cheap one, and especially a
cheap one that has already been abused.

Phil said:

What do you guys use to crank down/up on botton bracket sockets? Namely,
the ones with ~30mm hex flats? I bought a 24" adjustable wrench that works,
but at the low price I bought it at, the metal's made of putty and deforms
pretty easily. I was going to buy a Craftsman, but I'm curious as to what
you guys use.

You work as a professional bike mech? Please tell me where.

Phil said:

What do you guys use to crank down/up on botton bracket sockets? Namely,
the ones with ~30mm hex flats? I bought a 24" adjustable wrench that works,
but at the low price I bought it at, the metal's made of putty and deforms
pretty easily. I was going to buy a Craftsman, but I'm curious as to what
you guys use.

I'm seriously confused about the question, but why not a properly sized
socket, matched to a big breaker bar (or better yet, a torque wrench)?

For my Campy BB tool (a Park BB-5, IIRC), I use a 1" socket and my 1/2"
drive torque wrench. Especially if you do any car maintenance, a torque
wrench is a worthwhile investment - and it makes some things work very
nicely on the bike (BB cups, cassette lockrings, etc).

Mark

Mark Janeba said:

Phil said:

What do you guys use to crank down/up on botton bracket sockets? Namely,
the ones with ~30mm hex flats? I bought a 24" adjustable wrench that works,
but at the low price I bought it at, the metal's made of putty and deforms
pretty easily. I was going to buy a Craftsman, but I'm curious as to what
you guys use.

I'm seriously confused about the question, but why not a properly sized
socket, matched to a big breaker bar (or better yet, a torque wrench)?

For my Campy BB tool (a Park BB-5, IIRC), I use a 1" socket and my 1/2"
drive torque wrench. Especially if you do any car maintenance, a torque
wrench is a worthwhile investment - and it makes some things work very
nicely on the bike (BB cups, cassette lockrings, etc).

I second the motion. That's my setup and it works just fine.
--
Live simply so that others may simply live

Dave Thompson said:

Phil said:

What do you guys use to crank down/up on botton bracket sockets? Namely,
the ones with ~30mm hex flats? I bought a 24" adjustable
wrench that works, but at the low price I bought it at, the metal's
made of putty and deforms pretty easily. I was going to buy a
Craftsman, but I'm curious as to what you guys use.

I would *never* use an adjustable wrench on a bicycle. Even with a
Snap-On or Craftsman there is just too much 'slop' and causes munged
up flats. You're a pro, buy the best tool for the job.

We use a Craftsman adjustable at work, and it works fine.

The small amount of slop with the adjustable isn't really a big deal with
the 30mm flats on most of the BB sockets out there.

Socket handles put a moment arm on the tool that tends to pull it off the
BB, because it's far away from the splines. Using the adjustable, which is
far closer to the BB, almost eliminates that moment arm and more easily
keeps the tool on the BB splines.

What's the best tool for the job, in your opinion?

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

I've been using the same Craftsman adjustable for the past 25 years for
removing BB, Cassettes and Freewheels with no problem.

If all of your tools are 30mm, then I'd might buy a 30mm box wrench.

"Phil, Squid-in-Training" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message news:uJX6f.9673$vk1.8540@dukeread04...

Quoted message said:

Dave Thompson said:

Phil said:

What do you guys use to crank down/up on botton bracket sockets? Namely,
the ones with ~30mm hex flats? I bought a 24" adjustable
wrench that works, but at the low price I bought it at, the metal's
made of putty and deforms pretty easily. I was going to buy a
Craftsman, but I'm curious as to what you guys use.

I would *never* use an adjustable wrench on a bicycle. Even with a
Snap-On or Craftsman there is just too much 'slop' and causes munged
up flats. You're a pro, buy the best tool for the job.

We use a Craftsman adjustable at work, and it works fine.

The small amount of slop with the adjustable isn't really a big deal with
the 30mm flats on most of the BB sockets out there.

Socket handles put a moment arm on the tool that tends to pull it off the
BB, because it's far away from the splines. Using the adjustable, which
is far closer to the BB, almost eliminates that moment arm and more easily
keeps the tool on the BB splines.

What's the best tool for the job, in your opinion?

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

Wannagofast said:

I've been using the same Craftsman adjustable for the past 25 years
for removing BB, Cassettes and Freewheels with no problem.

If all of your tools are 30mm, then I'd might buy a 30mm box wrench.

Therein lies the problem - they're a couple different sizes.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

Mark Janeba said:

Phil said:

What do you guys use to crank down/up on botton bracket sockets? Namely,
the ones with ~30mm hex flats? I bought a 24" adjustable
wrench that works, but at the low price I bought it at, the metal's
made of putty and deforms pretty easily. I was going to buy a
Craftsman, but I'm curious as to what you guys use.

I'm seriously confused about the question, but why not a properly
sized socket, matched to a big breaker bar (or better yet, a torque
wrench)?
For my Campy BB tool (a Park BB-5, IIRC), I use a 1" socket and my
1/2" drive torque wrench. Especially if you do any car maintenance,
a torque wrench is a worthwhile investment - and it makes some things
work very nicely on the bike (BB cups, cassette lockrings, etc).

What do you use to hold the BB tool in place onto the spindle/BB cup?
--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

Paul Cassel said:

Phil said:

What do you guys use to crank down/up on botton bracket sockets? Namely,
the ones with ~30mm hex flats? I bought a 24" adjustable
wrench that works, but at the low price I bought it at, the metal's
made of putty and deforms pretty easily. I was going to buy a
Craftsman, but I'm curious as to what you guys use.

You work as a professional bike mech? Please tell me where.

Thank you for the constructive comment.
--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

Phil said:

Mark Janeba said:

Phil said:

What do you guys use to crank down/up on botton bracket sockets? Namely,
the ones with ~30mm hex flats? I bought a 24" adjustable
wrench that works, but at the low price I bought it at, the metal's
made of putty and deforms pretty easily. I was going to buy a
Craftsman, but I'm curious as to what you guys use.

I'm seriously confused about the question, but why not a properly
sized socket, matched to a big breaker bar (or better yet, a torque
wrench)?
For my Campy BB tool (a Park BB-5, IIRC), I use a 1" socket and my
1/2" drive torque wrench. Especially if you do any car maintenance,
a torque wrench is a worthwhile investment - and it makes some things
work very nicely on the bike (BB cups, cassette lockrings, etc).

What do you use to hold the BB tool in place onto the spindle/BB cup?

Good question, because I agree there is an issue there (but not a
serious problem, IIRC). It's been a while since I've torqued a BB cup,
and I remember having to pay attention, but I think a little twist of
the wrist was all it took. Probably I levered against the chainstays,
which flare out into the plane of the wrench, so I didn't get the
out-of-plane torque problem you mentioned in an earlier post.

Just to make sure I don't mislead, I am talking about the
Record/Chorus/Athena type BB cups, which have a splined tool slide into
the face of the cup.

For cassette lockrings (same tool with Campy) I use the skewer to hold
the tool onto the cassette.

Mark

Phil said:

Paul Cassel said:

Phil said:

What do you guys use to crank down/up on botton bracket sockets? Namely,
the ones with ~30mm hex flats? I bought a 24" adjustable
wrench that works, but at the low price I bought it at, the metal's
made of putty and deforms pretty easily. I was going to buy a
Craftsman, but I'm curious as to what you guys use.

You work as a professional bike mech? Please tell me where.

Thank you for the constructive comment.

Very well, then, here is contructive: I worked as a pro motorcycle
wrench and would NEVER use an adjustable wrench on any work aside from
the most crude. One of the reason folks came to me was to get their
bikes worked on w/o using these things or pliers for holding nuts and so
forth.

It is a mark of the pro that he uses the right tools and high quality
ones at that so after the work is done, only the product of the work is
obvious. That does not include rounded or stripped fasteners.

Bicycles are even more fragile and easy to munge than motorcycles so the
thought that someone uses an adjustable wrench on a bottom bracket
fastener scares the whiz out of me.

Constructive: don't use this tool.

Information: where do you work so I can avoid it? It's not just you, but
the boss of the shop who would tolerate such a tool bothers me.

-paul

Here's what I do, depending on the BB:

If it's an "external flats" type I use a BB wrench and hold it in place by
bolting a socket of approprate depth onto the spindle using the crankbolt.
This keeps the wrench from slipping off the flats.

It it's an internal splined BB, use a splined BB tool with breaker bar or
torque wrench. If it's so tight I need to worry about rotating the socket
out of the BB, I'd bolt the tool into place again using the crankbolt and
then use an appropriate sized wrench on the splined BB tool just to get it
loose. I would always put it on using the torque wrench.

That should about cover all possibilities. Did I miss any?

MOO,
Matt

"Mark Janeba" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Phil said:

Mark Janeba said:

Phil, Squid-in-Training wrote:

>What do you guys use to crank down/up on botton bracket sockets?
>Namely, the ones with ~30mm hex flats? I bought a 24" adjustable
>wrench that works, but at the low price I bought it at, the metal's
>made of putty and deforms pretty easily. I was going to buy a
>Craftsman, but I'm curious as to what you guys use.

I'm seriously confused about the question, but why not a properly
sized socket, matched to a big breaker bar (or better yet, a torque
wrench)?
For my Campy BB tool (a Park BB-5, IIRC), I use a 1" socket and my
1/2" drive torque wrench. Especially if you do any car maintenance,
a torque wrench is a worthwhile investment - and it makes some things
work very nicely on the bike (BB cups, cassette lockrings, etc).

What do you use to hold the BB tool in place onto the spindle/BB cup?

Good question, because I agree there is an issue there (but not a serious
problem, IIRC). It's been a while since I've torqued a BB cup, and I
remember having to pay attention, but I think a little twist of the wrist
was all it took. Probably I levered against the chainstays, which flare
out into the plane of the wrench, so I didn't get the out-of-plane torque
problem you mentioned in an earlier post.

Just to make sure I don't mislead, I am talking about the
Record/Chorus/Athena type BB cups, which have a splined tool slide into
the face of the cup.

For cassette lockrings (same tool with Campy) I use the skewer to hold the
tool onto the cassette.

Mark

<snippage of q re which bb wrench>

Tacx BB tool, holds tool and bb splines together. Use a box wrench or,
as I do, a crow's foot on a torque wrench.

The tacx bb tool is really quite nice. Saw it one day at an lbs and
had to have one.

App

Phil said:

What do you guys use to crank down/up on botton bracket sockets? Namely,
the ones with ~30mm hex flats? I bought a 24" adjustable wrench that works,
but at the low price I bought it at, the metal's made of putty and deforms
pretty easily. I was going to buy a Craftsman, but I'm curious as to what
you guys use.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

Bottom bracket sockets?

Not sure what ya mean. I use Tacx for just about all of the cart
bearing BBs, a
FSA for FSA, hooked to a rathet, Campag for cup and ball. I use an
adjustable wrench on the Tacx tool.

Phil said:

What do you guys use to crank down/up on botton bracket sockets? Namely,
the ones with ~30mm hex flats? I bought a 24" adjustable wrench that works,
but at the low price I bought it at, the metal's made of putty and deforms
pretty easily. I was going to buy a Craftsman, but I'm curious as to what
you guys use.

I use the Park socket which I hold down with a bolt into the spindle. I
use a pipe wrench on the socket (flats).

On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 06:10:13 -0600, Paul Cassel <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

Phil, Squid-in-Training wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Thank you for the constructive comment.

Very well, then, here is contructive: I worked as a pro motorcycle
wrench and would NEVER use an adjustable wrench on any work aside from
the most crude. One of the reason folks came to me was to get their
bikes worked on w/o using these things or pliers for holding nuts and so
forth.

'Pliers for holding nuts' is a whole different ballgame to using
adjustable wrenches as a wrench.

Quoted message said:

It is a mark of the pro that he uses the right tools and high quality
ones at that so after the work is done, only the product of the work is
obvious. That does not include rounded or stripped fasteners.

Sometimes, an adjustable wrench *is* the right tool for the job.
Admittedly not the crappy ones I've got, but a good one does *not* round
off fasteners when used with care[1]. Even the cheap ones don't unless you
use them for heavy torques.

Quoted message said:

Bicycles are even more fragile and easy to munge than motorcycles so the
thought that someone uses an adjustable wrench on a bottom bracket
fastener scares the whiz out of me.

Even if you *do* round off the flats on the BB tool, so what? It's not the
bike or any part of it. Complaining about people damaging bikes in the
context of a BB tool is particularly ridiculous.

Jasper

[1] Which takes a lot more time than just using the right tool for the
job, of course.

Paul Cassel said:

Phil said:

Paul Cassel said:

Phil, Squid-in-Training wrote:

> What do you guys use to crank down/up on botton bracket sockets?
> Namely, the ones with ~30mm hex flats? I bought a 24" adjustable
> wrench that works, but at the low price I bought it at, the metal's
> made of putty and deforms pretty easily. I was going to buy a
> Craftsman, but I'm curious as to what you guys use.
>

You work as a professional bike mech? Please tell me where.

Thank you for the constructive comment.

Very well, then, here is contructive: I worked as a pro motorcycle
wrench and would NEVER use an adjustable wrench on any work aside from
the most crude. One of the reason folks came to me was to get their
bikes worked on w/o using these things or pliers for holding nuts and
so forth.

It is a mark of the pro that he uses the right tools and high quality
ones at that so after the work is done, only the product of the work
is obvious. That does not include rounded or stripped fasteners.

Bicycles are even more fragile and easy to munge than motorcycles so
the thought that someone uses an adjustable wrench on a bottom bracket
fastener scares the whiz out of me.

Constructive: don't use this tool.

Information: where do you work so I can avoid it? It's not just you,
but the boss of the shop who would tolerate such a tool bothers me.

-paul

*AMEN!* The proper tool for the proper job, and all that. I'm a home
mechanic, have had to purchase tools for a particular job. I bought the very
best I could afford. If I couldn't afford the best, I waited 'till I could.

Jasper Janssen said:

Even if you *do* round off the flats on the BB tool, so what? It's not the
bike or any part of it. Complaining about people damaging bikes in the
context of a BB tool is particularly ridiculous.

Bingo.
--
Live simply so that others may simply live