Servicing Ultra-Torq B.B. bearings - help

[Tommasini53]

Hello,
I'm looking for help related to servicing my Campy Ultra-Torq bottom bracket. Its a little gritty and I wasn't certain the best way to clean and repack the bearings. I would like to hear from anyone that has serviced one of these.

Or if anyone knows of website with information, that would be great too. thanks in advance - :banana:

[bfarver]

Its kind of a pain. The easiest thing may be to just buy new cups - $30.00 from competitive cyclist. To swap out the cups you need a torque wrench that goes up to 45ft/pounds of torque and a tool to take out the cups. I use Park tool BBT-9 that Campy would probably frown upon, but it works. An 8MM hex bolt holds the cranks together in the center of the crank axles. If you don't have a torque wrench take it to your shop. Otherwise use it as an excuse to buy a new torque wrench!

[bfarver]

Its kind of a pain. The easiest thing may be to just buy new cups - $30.00 from competitive cyclist. To swap out the cups you need a torque wrench that goes up to 45ft/pounds of torque and a tool to take out the cups. I use Park tool BBT-9 that Campy would probably frown upon, but it works. An 8MM hex bolt holds the cranks together in the center of the crank axles. If you don't have a torque wrench take it to your shop. Otherwise use it as an excuse to buy a new torque wrench!

Scratch that. Its actually a 10mm ALLEN bolt that holds the cranks together. Sorry.

[maunahaole]

Question - you need a torque wrench to remove the cups? Or do you mean to install the cups?

Either way, any excuse to get a nice new torque wrench is a good one.

[bfarver]

Question - you need a torque wrench to remove the cups? Or do you mean to install the cups?

Either way, any excuse to get a nice new torque wrench is a good one.

You need a torque wrench to re-install the cranks - just to make sure they're tight enough.

[Dave]

As already noted, you need a 10mm hex socket and a short extension to remove the center fixing bolt and then extract both crank arms. The BBT-19 tool is only needed if you want to remove the cups.

Remove the inner bearing seals (which may be absent on early models or stay in the cup). I would use an aerosal degreaser, commonly called brake cleaner, to blast out the old grease and grit, then repack the bearings with new grease, clean out the cups and grease both the exterior of the bearings and inside the cups.

Some creaking problems are the result of improper cup installation, improperly using loctite, instead the the most reliable method of greasing and torqueing the cups to the proper 35Nm. Also be sure that the BB faces are properly faced and the BB width is in the 67.2-68.8mm range.

The center fixing bolt requires 42Nm or 31 ft.-lbs of torque.


http://www.iqproducts.com/pf_primis/primis_uth.htm

Here's an article on replacing the bearings, if needed.

http://www.rouesartisanales.com/article-6862530.html

[austex]

Its kind of a pain. The easiest thing may be to just buy new cups - $30.00 from competitive cyclist. To swap out the cups you need a torque wrench that goes up to 45ft/pounds of torque and a tool to take out the cups. I use Park tool BBT-9 that Campy would probably frown upon, but it works. An 8MM hex bolt holds the cranks together in the center of the crank axles. If you don't have a torque wrench take it to your shop. Otherwise use it as an excuse to buy a new torque wrench!

Why would you buy new cups? The bearings are press-fit onto the half-axles on UT (not press-fit into the cups, a la Shimano/SRAM/FSA and all the other outboard-bearing cranks). And the cups need not be removed to service the bearings.

[Dave]

Why would you buy new cups? The bearings are press-fit onto the half-axles on UT (not press-fit into the cups, a la Shimano/SRAM/FSA and all the other outboard-bearing cranks). And the cups need not be removed to service the bearings.

The only reason to change cups is if they are worn. There are some users who swear that they have worn cups from the very small amount of side to side movement that is possible with this design, but of course none of them can actually measure the cup ID to compare with a new one, to document the claim. Mine all look like new after thousands of miles.

[mflaherty37]

I think a least one of the bearings is sealed from the cup side. I took mine off in trouble shooting a creak. Worked the bearings of with a screwdriver, the best thing is to get the proper tool. The grease doesn't clean out of the bearings easy and the bearings don't come off and go on without causing some damage. This is one thing where a good bike store can do you best.