Preferred BB tool?

"Dave Thompson" wrote: (clip) If I couldn't afford the best, I waited 'till
I could.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Me too. And in the meantime, I just used whatever adjustable wrench I
happened to have handy. ;-)

App said:

<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

I wasn't aware it existed... look like a nice piece. I'll look into it,
thanks.

--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

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.

An ordinary no-brand large adjustable wrench is OK on my Tacx T4425 with
32mm flats. I assume it's made of hardened steel.

~PB

"Phil, Squid-in-Training" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message news:iKU6f.9363$vk1.1400@dukeread04...

Quoted message said:

What do you guys use to crank down/up on bottom 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

A 14" pipe wrench, with the Park BB tool held in place by a stove bolt, nut,
and washers.

-- http://www.ridgid.com/Tools/Heavy-Duty-Straight-Pipe-Wrench/index.htm

DTW .../\.../\.../\...

I've spent most of my money on mountain biking and windsurfing.
The rest, I've just wasted.

Phil said:

What do you guys use to crank down/up on botton bracket sockets?

If you adjustable wrench doesn't "GET-R-DONE" secure the BB tool with a
bolt then put the tool in a vise and turn the frame. So says Park Tool
with pictures> http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=94

BE SURE YOUR TURNING IT THE RIGHT WAY. Turning counter clockwise
doesn't always loosen just like when your loosing pedals.

John

Phil said:

What do you guys use to crank down/up on botton bracket sockets?

If your adjustable wrench doesn't "GET-R-DONE" secure the BB tool
with a bolt then put the tool in a vise and turn the frame. So says
Park Tool with pictures>
http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=94

BE SURE YOUR TURNING IT THE RIGHT WAY. Turning counter clockwise
doesn't always loosen just like loosing pedals.

John

Well lookee here - Park tool school using an adj wrench on the BB tool

--
DTW .../\.../\.../\...

"> Park Tool with pictures>

Quoted message said:

http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=94

D T W .../\... said:

Well lookee here - Park tool school using an adj wrench on the BB tool

Quoted message said:

http://www.parktool.com/repair/readhowto.asp?id=94

The couldn't afford the appropriate-sized wrench, either 😉

The skewer trick seems to work for Shimano internal splines, but external
FSA splines don't seem to have a similar trick. These are the ones I tend
to have problems with.

Thanks for the input, everyone.
--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

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.

Thanks for your input. I value the better tool when applicable, also.

As to where I work, simply ask any LBS that you go to for BB work (which you
probably won't ever need to) if they use an adjustable wrench. If you're at
mine, we'll answer in the affirmative.
--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

Paul Cassel 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.

Constructive: don't use this tool.

That's ridiculous. Nobody can "munge" the flats on a Park BB tool with
an adjustable wrench. A 12" or 15" adjustable wrench is economical and
extremely effective in this application.

Quoted message said:

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.

You do any shop you avoid a favor.

-Vee

Phil

I'll be darned if I can loosen nor properly torque a PA BBT 2 tool w/o
holding it down w/ an 8mm cap screw. It twists out of the splines,
otherwise. For loosening and initial tighting, I totally, SHAMELESSLY
use a huge 18" Cresent brand wrench. For final torquing, I use a crows
foot on a 3/8" torque wrench.
For older BBs fixed cups, I have an old VAR VR 30 w/ 3 or 4 jaws.
A slick setup is the VAR VA 996/ PRO 2 @ ~ $20, but I saved the $$$
difference w/ a hardware store bought 8mm cap screw & some 8mm washers
for shimming.
Another slick setup is the VA 996/ PRO 3. But at $50 it's outrageously
over priced. $30 for a lously handle? Gimme a brake! (See BikeTools
Etc. for details)

Hope this helps, John

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.

The Park one takes a 3/8" drive.

In article <435fcd82.0@entanet>,

Zog The Undeniable 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.

The Park one takes a 3/8" drive.

15 inch Snap On adjustable wrench. Also have an 8 inch.
Snap On adjustable wrenches have teeth in the jaws. They
are not sharp and do not mark fasteners. They do make the
wrench grip more positively.

Incidentally the Snap On adjustable wrenches have an arrow
on the handle indicating the direction to apply force. The
arrow indicates that force is to be applied on the
opposite side to the side where the jaws open.

--
Michael Press

Zog The Undeniable 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.

The Park one takes a 3/8" drive.

Yes. Again the issue of retaining the tool onto the BB itself comes up,
which is why I use an adjustable, which almost eliminates the lateral moment
arm.
--
Phil, Squid-in-Training

http://buy1.snapon.com/catalog/item.asp?P65=&tool=hand&item_ID=75745&group_ID=19778&store=snapon-store&dir=catalog

if the non tinyurl fails then that's
snap on Pliers, Locking, Omnium Grip, 10" long

3:47am?