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Getting the ball bearings back into a bottom bracket

I've recently picked up an oldish BH bike which needs a bit of TLC to get it back up and running but the bottom bracket was a bit stiff and grindy. I decided that I would take it apart and try and give it a bit of a clean up to see if that would help.

As I've never actually taken a bottom bracket off or apart before it was a bit of a learning curve and resulted in ball bearings spilling out onto my freshly cleaned kitchen floor, a move that had my other half absolutely beaming with delight.

I took them out, cleared a whole heap of crap and grit out and cleaned the bearings up, they all seem in decent nick, all still spherical with no flat bits or chips but for the life of me I could not get the sods back in.

I'm assuming that I need to put 10 ball bearings in the circular seals at either side nearest the cranks and I cant just drop them in and let them find there own way naturally?

If its the former, does anybody have any advice on how to get the tricky little buggers into their rightful homes without them spilling out? I keep dropping them in one side, putting the spindle in to try trap them in place, flipping the bike over and then gingerly trying to get them on the other side before trying to screw the bottom bracket seal back on to the other side and its become an almost Sysiphean task for me.

Cheers,

Farrell

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farrell | 12 years ago
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Thanks, thanks and thanks again!

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dave atkinson | 12 years ago
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dave atkinson | 12 years ago
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farrell | 12 years ago
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Any recommendations for grease to use?

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dave atkinson | 12 years ago
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lots of sticky grease should do the trick - grease the races really well and you can just stick the bearings where you want 'em. nice thick grease works best, if your grease isn't thick enough try putting it in the fridge  1

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