Stuck Campagnolo bottom bracket

[belopsky]

I'm a goof.
I threaded the bottom bracket on a newly repainted and modified frame THE WRONG WAY.

This is an old Campagnolo bottom bracket with the fixed and adjustable cups.
I threaded the fixed up on the non-drive side counter-clockwise and the adjustable cup on the drive side clockwise.
I broke my spanner when trying to tighten the drive side, and now I cannot get it off.

GAH what do I do??

[Tandem Rider]

What thread is the frame?
English and French can be reamed out and re-threaded Italian.

[belopsky]

Originally Posted by Tandem Rider

What thread is the frame?
English and French can be reamed out and re-threaded Italian.

English

[cmbicycles]

1st, take a deep breath... second, cry a little... third, deep breath... kidding. Must have been a bear getting those tightened the wrong way. You can either buy some tools to remove the BB, and/or take it to your favorite LBS and ask them to remove it and chase the threads. I've removed a couple wrong threaded BB's and they have only needed a light pass with a BB tap. Hopefully yours is still intact.
Is your frame steel/ti/aluminum?

[Pastashop]

Is it an old skool cup & cone BB or the 10-sp era cartridge?.. could you dremel a radial cut in the stuck cup, then try again?..

[Kontact]

Clamp whatever amount of the cup is sticking out in a bench vice, then turn the whole frame as a lever. Just make sure you're turning it the right way - opposite of the way it went in.

[belopsky]

phew that took a lot of effort, but eventually with a bolt a nut and some locknuts i managed to get it out.
now to assess the damage and see if i need to go italian?

[ultraman6970]

if you can put the cups the right way this time, then you are ok.

If you want to play safe I would put a sealed BB unit.

[belopsky]

I actually managed to get the fixed cup screwed in in the drive side with some effort..going to take the frame to the shop tomorrow and have them chase it or tap to Italian if need be.

Phew.

[Kontact]

Originally Posted by belopsky

I actually managed to get the fixed cup screwed in in the drive side with some effort..going to take the frame to the shop tomorrow and have them chase it or tap to Italian if need be.

Phew.

If it is screwed in, and not cross threaded, it is probably fine. The thing is that you have damaged cup threads screwed into damaged frame threads, so that combination might be more prone to damage than a new cup in the frame.

But really, if you can get the cups threaded in, chances are they won't go anywhere. It's an incredible amount of threaded surface area compared to an axle nut.

[oldpotatoe]

Originally Posted by belopsky

I'm a goof.
I threaded the bottom bracket on a newly repainted and modified frame THE WRONG WAY.

This is an old Campagnolo bottom bracket with the fixed and adjustable cups.
I threaded the fixed up on the non-drive side counter-clockwise and the adjustable cup on the drive side clockwise.
I broke my spanner when trying to tighten the drive side, and now I cannot get it off.

GAH what do I do??

???Even on BSC BBs, the actual frame BB shell is not threaded that way, don't see how you even got the cups to start..On Italian, the LH side is clockwise threaded(?)

But reading above..have a good LBS chase the BB shell threads, the correct way..It's really, really hard to tap out to Italian from BSC..since the actual shell is bigger on Italian, so you not only have to take some material(remove old threads) but also ensure the threads are cut parallel.

Still don't see how you even got the cups to start being threaded opposite the way the BB shell is threaded.

[gfk_velo]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

???Even on BSC BBs, the actual frame BB shell is not threaded that way, don't see how you even got the cups to start..On Italian, the LH side is clockwise threaded(?)

But reading above..have a good LBS chase the BB shell threads, the correct way..It's really, really hard to tap out to Italian from BSC..since the actual shell is bigger on Italian, so you not only have to take some material(remove old threads) but also ensure the threads are cut parallel.

Still don't see how you even got the cups to start being threaded opposite the way the BB shell is threaded.

I guess if the original threads were / are very worn, with a huge amount of determination, it might be do-able ... I've seen it done in error in alloy threads.

I'd agree, with Old Potatoe, get a good bike shop that knows what they are doing and have a good-quality, sharp set of co-axial chasing taps and facing cutters clean the shell out and face it. When you refit the cups, use a medium strength Loctite like 641, 603 or 609.

Correctly used, that'll retain the cups in a damaged thread and also give you a barrier against galvanic corrosion.

"Retapping to Italian" is a bit of an urban myth, in general pedalled (forgive the pun) by those who have never actually done it. It's not, as Old Potatoe intimates, that easy. You can't just put a set of Italian BB taps on the wrenches and hack away and hope to get a good job.

Italian thread is 36 mm, BSC is 1.37" or 34.79 mm, so there's perhaps 0.3 mm (allowing for the fact that your thread is probably now in a very poor state in addition to being worn) of of solid, hard material that needs to come out of what is, if it's a steel shell, a pretty hard internal diameter.

It's do-able, for sure - we've done it in the frame workshop in the past ... but to do it properly, it's a job for a framebuilder or other craftsman that really knows what he or she is about and has the correct tooling.

[ultraman6970]

If the OP got tested the fit the right way and it worked I wouldnt try to convert that to italian threaded yet.

The other problem the op is facing is that to convert that effectlbly he needs a shop with an italian chaser, thing is really rare now a days, second, an adjustable chaser so the guy goes little by little oppening that thing, and 3rd a shop even willing to the trick, that probably is the hardest thing because is not simple, takes time and somebody that have done it or a mechanic that is not going to tell you is 600 bucks or "is that even possible?"

If you were able to put at least one of those cups it means that you could be ok, just have the guy to chase english just for safety and second, as i said before, I would try to find a sealed unit for that frame, there is no sense to try to go 100% perfect built now that you played with it, you really dont want to mess with that BB more than necessary anymore.

Hope you even find a shop with the english chaser, here some shops dont even have that lately.