Do Crank shaft spacers wear out?

[CharleyFarley]

A few years ago I bought a new Specialized Fatboy from a bike shop. A while later the left pedal fell off. I found that they had put wide spacers on each side of the crank shaft, leaving only half what the pedal needed to be seated properly. So I removed their spacers and bought a bunch of 30mm spacers and put on. I also put a crank preloader on it. It was great, no side to side movement at all.

In recent times I noticed an occasional click apparently coming from the crank shaft. I found that I could move it from side to side about 2mm. The crank arms were fully in place on the shaft and tight, so why this side to side play? Did I find out something that's known to the biking world, such as spacers wearing out as they turn against the B.B.? If so I need to buy some more spacers to take up future wear. Fortunately, I had two spacers to take up the slack.

 

[fossyant]

Spacers won't move, they press onto the inner edge of the bearing. I feel you have a worn bearing in the BB.

 

[CharleyFarley]

Spacers won't move, they press onto the inner edge of the bearing. I feel you have a worn bearing in the BB.

Okay, thanks. If it comes to replacing the bearings, I'll get a BB adapter installed. I don't like press fit BBs. I have over 11,000 miles on the bike so it's quite possible the bearings are worn, but they give no indication of being so.
Say, is there a way to remove the BB and cups without buying expensive tools I'd only use one time?

 

[fossyant]

You can drift them out if very careful and you have mechanical sympathy. £30 will get you a blind bearing puller and slide bar and appropriate adapters. Take out the crank, and see if you can feel play in the bearings. PS press fit's are notorious for creaks - stupid design in such a stressed area.

PS depending on the crank, some need to be very tight.

 

[CharleyFarley]

You can drift them out if very careful and you have mechanical sympathy. £30 will get you a blind bearing puller and slide bar and appropriate adapters. Take out the crank, and see if you can feel play in the bearings. PS press fit's are notorious for creaks - stupid design in such a stressed area.

PS depending on the crank, some need to be very tight.

I decided to just go with new bearings so I called a LBS, this afternoon, to ask them to put new bearings in. They said they don't have the bearings so I offered to pay them up front to get the bearings. Then they said they don't do that kind of work. In business since 1977, but perhaps they don't get enough calls for it, and they'd have to buy the tools.

There's another LBS in my area, two of them, owned by the same man, in business since '79. I won't let them touch any of my bikes. When I got back into cycling about seven years ago I bought three new bikes from them, and they botched seven jobs on them. Their mechanic must be a rank amateur, and I suggested to the owner to check the work that goes out because of something his mechanic did to my bike. He had no idea what I was talking about. So if I have to, I'll buy the tools and do the job, myself. I do everything else on both bikes.

So, I contacted a Specialized dealer where I bought another bike. I just want them to replace the bearings. It's a long drive and I have to take it there in the morning (they work on Sundays). Their service department will take a look at it. If they tell me they can't do it, I will do it, myself, somehow. I'm pretty good with bike mechanicals, even if I say so, myself. I took a friend's trike to them, two years ago because the freewheel broke. They said it needs a special puller to remove the axle, and they can't do the job, anyway. So I bought a freewheel and did it, myself. No axle puller needed.

As the fat bike stands, I've removed the chain and crankset so the LBS will only have to pop the old bearings and stick the new ones in. They may have to order the bearings. I dread the drive to that shop because of the 80mph traffic.

 

[fossyant]

They don't do pressfit, how odd

 

[CharleyFarley]

They don't do pressfit, how odd

I took the bike to a Specialized dealer, this morning. They took it in right away and looked at it. They have the bearings but not the cups; those would have to be ordered. He said that if they knock the old bearings out and press the new ones in, it will likely creak because a certain amount of damage is done to the plastic cups in punching the bearings out. I asked the guy if they have a screw-together adapter, and he pulled one out of a draw. I told him to go ahead and put it in. It should be ready about Tuesday.

They are so busy, and they have two shops, and they are advertising for help. It's an incredible bike shop. I looked around at the new bikes; I'd guess they probably have at least two to three-hundred new bikes. And they are gorgeous! I drooled over a new Specialized mountain bike; that thing was huge, and costs around $9,000.

I bought a new Electra cruiser from them two years ago. Also bought a new Cannondale memory foam saddle for it, from them. The saddle is so good I bought another one for the fat bike.
The screw together adapter they'll be installing, has the bearings outboard, thus reducing stress on the surrounding parts, so I'm guessing this setup will last me the rest of my life. It's taken me nearly six years and 11,000 miles to wear the bearings out, so in another six years I'll be 82 if I last that long.

 

[fossyant]

Outboard bearings last longer than press fit, but nothing like as long as the old square taper unfortunately. At least outboard bearings are easy to replace and cheap.

 

[CharleyFarley]

Outboard bearings last longer than press fit, but nothing like as long as the old square taper unfortunately. At least outboard bearings are easy to replace and cheap.

My bike will be ready to pick up, tomorrow, and I was going to ask them about replacing the outboard bearings, if it was something I could do, myself, or if I would need to replace the whole adapter, but you've answered my question. I don't know that I'll ever wear out another set of bearings; it's taken me almost six years and over 11,000 miles to wear out the originals. In six more years I'll be 82 and don't know if I'll be able to ride. What a horrible thought! And I don't want an electric bike.

My cruiser has a cartridge BB and they're easy to replace. I installed one on a previous bike after removing the cup and cone bearings. I like the square tapered cartridge spindle. I don't know why someone thought it a good idea to make press fit bearings, unless it was to make a bike as cheaply as possible. Perhaps most people would never wear out a set of bearings and wouldn't have to face the job of replacing them.

 

[fossyant]

Shimano outboard bearings are better than SRAM's GXP outboard bearings. I've replaced my SRAM with a Praxis works that run on Enduro bearings. I have still had to replace the bearings, but not the cups - easy on the Praxis BB cups. This is on a MTB that does get drowned on occasions.

 

[CharleyFarley]

Shimano outboard bearings are better than SRAM's GXP outboard bearings. I've replaced my SRAM with a Praxis works that run on Enduro bearings. I have still had to replace the bearings, but not the cups - easy on the Praxis BB cups. This is on a MTB that does get drowned on occasions.

I don't know who makes the adapter the bike shop is supplying. I was surprised that they stock them. I'm a dry weather, pavement rider so the bearings don't have to tolerate any muck other than road dust.

When Fossyant said the bearings were worn, I didn't think it to be so because I tried moving the crank spindle up and down to see if there was any play. I never thought about the sideways play, so when I removed the spindle I could feel a grittiness in turning the bearing. Evidently, each bearing had a 1mm sideways play which added up to 2mm so that I had to put two more 1mm spacers on the spindle to stop the whole crank assembly from moving side to side. And it was that which was making a clicking noise as I rode.

 

[T4tomo]

I don't know who makes the adapter the bike shop is supplying. I was surprised that they stock them.

Token certainly make them, others possibly too. Its a good solution.

Press fit was a nice idea in theory, making a stronger, marginally lighter interface, but woefully flawed in practice as the tolerances are too tight, and then it develops a squeak after a while and its harder for home mechanics to change the damn thing.