Creaking bottom bracket

[0bsirus]

I have a creak starting in my bb , am I right to re grease the bb threads and the square taper ? I'm going crazy as the bb is only 100 miles old since I smashed my last one and don't really wanna spend for a new one as I'm saving for an external bb and new crankset

 

[mrandmrspoves]

Don't grease the square taper! The spindle to crank connection should always be grease free as greasing it will make it more likely to work loose. If you have creaking after such short milage I would check that the bottom bracket is installed tightly, then check the crank bolts for tightness. Hopefully when the bottom bracket was installed the threads were greased thoroughly.

 

[cyberknight]

Don't grease the square taper! The spindle to crank connection should always be grease free as greasing it will make it more likely to work loose. If you have creaking afree such short milage I would check that the bottom bracket is installed tightly, then check the crank bolts for tightness. Hopefully when the bottom bracket was installed the threads were greased thoroughly.

What he said !
I recently reinstalled a BB that was creaking as it had not been greased and was not in tight enough .

 

[raleighnut]

The bolts on a square taper shaft often need a retighten after a few miles as the cranks settle onto the taper, even more so when the shaft is new but the crank is not. A tip I was told to get more life out of a BB is to remove and rotate each pedal arm half a turn every year to even out wear on the shaft.

 

[Smokin Joe]

To start with just remove the BB and re-install, it can be amazing the difference that makes. Just a small bit of grit somewhere on the mating surfaces can cause a click or a creak that drives you nuts.

 

[0bsirus]

Stripped cleaned and greased this morning and seems to be running smooth now, gonna run it for a few miles later and re tighten again.
The square taper came pre-greased so assumed it was meant to be greased.
After 15 years riding this is my first square taper lol all my other bikes have been octo or external bb

Thanks for all the advice

 

[Cyprus]

Just a small bit of grit somewhere on the mating surfaces can cause a click or a creak that drives you nuts.

I would go along with that. Also, noises sometimes appear to be coming from somewhere totally different to where they originate.

I bought a new bike last month, and after about 150 miles a 'click' developed which coincided with every revolution of the crank/chainwheel. Deeply irritating!! The bottom bracket on mine is one of those BB30's, and read various stories online etc about how easily 'clicks' can occur with them, so the BB30 was taken apart, and reinstalled. That did not cure anything, the noise was still there ....

The only other thing that coincided with every turn of the crank was the pedals, so out of desperation I fitted an old pair of worn toe-clip style pedals from a spare bike, in place of my nice new clipless ones which were on the new bike. BINGO!! The noise disappeared. So somehow the brand new clipless pedals were creating a 'click', and the bearings and such were thoroughly checked but they were fine, so finally I coated the pedal spindle threads, which screw into the crank arms, with anti-seize Copper grease. That cured the 'clicking' noise, it was no more.

Presumably the bone-dry thread on the new pedal spindles was somehow 'fretting' with the crank arm threads (particularly when under load) and somehow creating a very irritating 'click', even though the pedals were correctly tightened into the crank arms.

 

[0bsirus]

Yeah the frame can make things echo thruout the failed and cause weird issues lol found this out myself before, but this was more of a whine than a click and it even did it on the stand so was pretty certain it was the bb.