Bottom bracket broken, I cannot remove it anymore!

Chiel said:

Hi,

I have a Giant OCR1 racing bike from 2001. During my yearly maintenance this year, I wanted to remove the bottom bracket... The first side went fine (this was the protection part, and when I wanted to remove the part on which everything is connected, the part snapped and the only thing that came out was the the part with the screw on it... So , my bottom bracket moved a bit, but is stuck in the frame and I cannot use the special Shimano tool anymore....

Anybody seen this before? How do I remove it?

A seized up BB is not fun. I can't think of any ways to get it out, I take it you didn't grease the BB cups when you installed it (or whomever installed it).

badkarma said:

A seized up BB is not fun. I can't think of any ways to get it out, I take it you didn't grease the BB cups when you installed it (or whomever installed it).

No I am not enjoying much at the moment ;-) I hope somebody has a good tip....

Chiel said:

Hi,

I have a Giant OCR1 racing bike from 2001. During my yearly maintenance this year, I wanted to remove the bottom bracket... The first side went fine (this was the protection part, and when I wanted to remove the part on which everything is connected, the part snapped and the only thing that came out was the the part with the screw on it... So , my bottom bracket moved a bit, but is stuck in the frame and I cannot use the special Shimano tool anymore....

Anybody seen this before? How do I remove it?

Your description is just vague enough (to me, anyway) that it isn't clear what broke ...

BTW. Is this an ISIS or square taper BB?

Please post a picture.

Is this on the side that is a

LEFT HAND THREAD?

alfeng said:

Your description is just vague enough (to me, anyway) that it isn't clear what broke ...

BTW. Is this an ISIS or square taper BB?

Please post a picture.

It's a modern cartrigde bottom bracket which are on all normal racing bikes....

I removed the lock ring and after that I tried to remove the bottom bracket but the part where you put in the special ring just broke loose from the bottom bracket.

gclark8 said:

Is this on the side that is a

LEFT HAND THREAD?

It's on the right side of the bike (sorry if I understand your question wrong...) I turned the right direction if that is your question...

Chiel said:

It's on the right side of the bike (sorry if I understand your question wrong...) I turned the right direction if that is your question...

Right hand side of bike, clockwise to undo, confirm?

gclark8 said:

Right hand side of bike, clockwise to undo, confirm?

Confirm... I removed the other side counter clockwise, so that should work 🙂

Chiel said:

It's on the right side of the bike (sorry if I understand your question wrong...) I turned the right direction if that is your question...

I am going to presume that you have an ISIS BB even though you haven't stated it, because the BB tool should fit over a square taper ...

If that is true, then there are two options that come to mind ...

1) if the cup has NOT seized, then you may be able to simply "plunge" (okay, that's a bit too dramatic ... GENTLY WEDGE is really how you want to do it ...) the tips of a needlenose plier into the cup's receiving notches, and turn the cup clockwise. Recently, after my BB tool bottomed out on the end of an ISIS spindle (hey, what's with THAT design ... both a PARK & a LIFU tool bottomed out on the spindle, BTW), I used the method mentioned to snug up the cup against a BB spacer.

2) if the cup HAS seized (you made it sound as though this was NOT the case), then you may have to resort to a plumbers PIPE WRENCH ... OR, if you have skilled hands, you can file flats into the cup (it's probably aluminum) and use a tradtional BB tool.

There may be OTHER methods, but that's what comes to mind ...

alfeng said:

I am going to presume that you have an ISIS BB even though you haven't stated it, because the BB tool should fit over a square taper ...

If that is true, then there are two options that come to mind ...

1) if the cup has NOT seized, then you may be able to simply "plunge" (okay, that's a bit too dramatic ... GENTLY WEDGE is really how you want to do it ...) the tips of a needlenose plier into the cup's receiving notches, and turn the cup clockwise. Recently, after my BB tool bottomed out on the end of an ISIS spindle (hey, what's with THAT design ... both a PARK & a LIFU tool bottomed out on the spindle, BTW), I used the method mentioned to snug up the cup against a BB spacer.

2) if the cup HAS seized (you made it sound as though this was NOT the case), then you may have to resort to a plumbers PIPE WRENCH ... OR, if you have skilled hands, you can file flats into the cup (it's probably aluminum) and use a tradtional BB tool.

There may be OTHER methods, but that's what comes to mind ...

I think I have a square taper, but it shouldn't matter for your ideas... The cup HAS seized and there is no way anymore to use the tool...

Chiel said:

I think I have a square taper, but it shouldn't matter for your ideas... The cup HAS seized and there is no way anymore to use the tool...

Okay ... it still ISN'T clear which type of cartridge BB you have (a picture would really help -- you know: one picture is worth a thousand words) ...

It sounds like you have a stripped (The cup edges for the BB tool, not the threads) BB cup.
One thing you can do if you have a bench vise is to have the vise grab the cup and then rotate the frame instead of the cup (as the cup will be fixed in the vise.)

Most bicycle shops can do this for you. Failing that, if you plan on discarding the cup you can drill holes into it and use a pin-spanner to remove. I recently had to remove a seized cup and I do not have access to a bench vise, so I walked it to the local shop and had them remove it for 20 dollars.

Good luck!

Chiel said:

Hi,

I have a Giant OCR1 racing bike from 2001. During my yearly maintenance this year, I wanted to remove the bottom bracket... The first side went fine (this was the protection part, and when I wanted to remove the part on which everything is connected, the part snapped and the only thing that came out was the the part with the screw on it... So , my bottom bracket moved a bit, but is stuck in the frame and I cannot use the special Shimano tool anymore....

Anybody seen this before? How do I remove it?

So, to translate: you removed the adjustable cup on the left and then you started to remove the fixed cup on the right, turning it clockwise, we presume. The fixed cup broke and part of it came out, leaving the cartridge and, presumably, some of the threaded part of the fixed cup in the BB shell.
Unless you are very competent, I would now take your bike to a GOOD bike shop, as you are at a stage where a poorly judged intervention could strip or otherwise damage your BB shell.

A cynical person once told me that you should always let a bike shop service your bottom brackets. That way if the frame gets ruined because of cross threading, thread stripping, whatever the shop is on the hook for the replacement.

Bro Deal said:

A cynical person once told me that you should always let a bike shop service your bottom brackets. That way if the frame gets ruined because of cross threading, thread stripping, whatever the shop is on the hook for the replacement.

Thanks for all your advices... I took the bike to the shop, and they did it in about 30 seconds, while I feared that I [censored] up my bike...