Italian BB, aghrrrrr!!!

[rowebr]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

AAArrrggg..all this about using glue in a Italian(or any) BB shell...we had a Bianchi, steel..RH cup seized in the frame. It would not come out('far superior Italian threads)...so, strip bike to frame(overhaul anyway, new crank and BB so we had to get it out), flats of BB cup into our big, burley vice and 2 of us turning the frame...I was afraid the BB shell would explode but nope..it came out and some sort of dried, loctite-ie type crap all over the threads...

So please.
-Face BB shell
-Grease
-teflon tape
-proper tool
and TIGHT.

IMHO, of course.

Shimano's Italian threaded BB for Hollowtech II cranks comes with a gray substance on the threads, maybe it is Teflon tape? Anyway, three years ago when building up my Guerciotti retro-roadie, I added grease on top of that gray stuff when installing the BB. Your advice makes me think adding the grease was the right call...guess I'll know for sure when the time comes to remove it!

[mtechnica]

The stuff on the Shimano cups is probably similar to blue loctite. Blue loctite is weak for threads the diameter of a BB but counterintuitively, it can make it easier to remove in the long run since it also acts as anti seize.

[pjbaz]

Originally Posted by fmradio516

Oo how do you heat them? Lighter? mini torch?

I used a cig lighter. Only took a few seconds to loosen up and the twisted out nicely. I did find it better to heat the area again when the spokes were out and run another old spoke in to clean the threads before installing the new spoke. I went by the mfg step-by-step instructions

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by rowebr

Shimano's Italian threaded BB for Hollowtech II cranks comes with a gray substance on the threads, maybe it is Teflon tape? Anyway, three years ago when building up my Guerciotti retro-roadie, I added grease on top of that gray stuff when installing the BB. Your advice makes me think adding the grease was the right call...guess I'll know for sure when the time comes to remove it!

No, dried glue(loctite type stuff), which makes no sense since glue(loctite type stuff), really works when wet. I used some sort of locking tool for these BBs..that tightened the tool into the cup TIGHTLY so you can make the RH BB cup TIGHT...These are really draggy anyway so making them tight is important.