Bottom Bracket bearings - cleaning and re-greasing

[Opendro]

I couldn't find a thread on how to clean and re-grease the bottom bracket bearing maintenance.

My bottom bracket bearings caught rust with water (blame triathlon and washing in canals). All I wanted was to replace the bearing cartridge. A quick check with BOTS indicated that I wouldn't get them separately unless I source locally. I was not hopeful of getting them. Hence, I decided to de-grease and grease them again.

Attached pics show the pieces after I opened up the sealed backet into the last pieces. They are basically two bearing cartridges, one cylinder (this shouldn't be important), two casings (which act as nuts on two ends) and the square rod. I used paint thinner which I already had to de-grease and the apply Castrol lubricant gel. So, this saves me for now.

As I understand, the bearing cartridge is the only part that can go bad here. So, I was surprised to know that it is not easily available as spare.

[Sreepathi Pai]

Nice!

How did you extract the catridges, and how did you press them back?

Also, there are bearing shops on S P Road, which sell cartridge
bearings. You could probably try them

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Sreepathi Pai

[Arvind Ganesh]

I thought cartridge bottom brackets are generally use and replace when worn. 

From Sheldon Brown "Most newer bicycles use cartridge bottom brackets, which are modular assemblies. These are normally not adjustable or serviceable; rather, they are intended to be replaced as a unit when the bearings become worn-out or contaminated."

Another thread on the matter http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php/348148-Replacing-lubricant-inside-sealed-cartridge-bottom-brackets

-Arvind

[Opendro]

First, get the spindle out from the bearing. I use hammer of course :) Just hold the end cups with hand in the air and tap on the spindle with hammer.

Once the spindle is out, it is likely that one of the bearing cartridge is still inside the casing between the cylindrical spacer and the threaded cup. You have to hold the threaded casing in the air and tap on the bearing again. The bearing will push out the cylinder as well. You can either use a round object which will mount on the inner ring of the bearing or use the spindle itself by inserting from opposite end and use that as link to hammer on the bearing.

Thanks for the info. Next time, I will try for the cartridge from SP road.

[Opendro]

Sometimes being novice to imported cycles is helpful. I look at the imported cycles in the way I used to look at Indian cycles - everything can be fixed. But availability of small parts of imported bikes is a real problem. For instance, a rear hub axle with fresh nuts is 400! It is just hard to digest.