Click Click Click goes the …….

I don’t actually know. I have tried everything. Well, most things that have been suggested. When ever I pedal, I get a clicking noise from somewhere below me. Because of the weather which looks a bit like this,

Rain Rain!

I haven’t been out on the bike since I swapped the Shimano SPD-SL pedals for the Speedplays. God I hope it was the pedals.

On Saturday I decided to have a crack at removing the bottom bracket just to see if it was that that was causing the noise. I was a little reluctant to do it, because I had never done it before. Also, you need a couple of specialised tools. As you can see in the photo below, there is a little cover over the crank spindle that needs to come off.

A red arrow pointing at the crank spindle cover.

To get that off you will need either some dexterity with some needle nosed pliers, or, Shimano sell a special tool for it. It is like a massive Torx screw fitting with a wheel on it.

TL-FC16 I think.

Bingo, with that out of the way, you can under to 2 crank arm bolts and take them out, being careful that you don’t drop the little washers that are on them. With the bolts out, you can wiggle the non drive side crank arm and it should come off. Then, after taking the chain off the chainring, you should be able to pull the drive side off the bike. With the cranks out of the way, it is time to get into that bottom bracket. Another specialised tool is needed.

Google Shimano Bottom Bracket Tool

Being careful to line the teeth up with the grooves they fit in, and trying to keep the tool parallel to the frame of the bike, apply pressure to the bottom bracket, making sure you are undoing in the right direction. I was lucky, on the bottom of the bottom brackets it tells you which way to tighten. Well, it took a few minutes, some foul language and a rubber mallet, but I eventually moved the non drive side one. The drive side was even harder to get off. Once it is all removed, it was time for a look see.

A little dirty.

That is the bottom bracket with the non drive side bearing housing thing. I am sure some one will know exactly what it is called. And inside the bottom bracket shell.

Inside the Bottom Bracket Shell.

Nothing apart from some road grime in there. All looked good. I gave it all a good clean up, applied grease to all the threaded parts and put it all back together. A quick tip.

Oops.

Note the chain position. That is wrong obviously, but I didn’t realise until I had it all back together. D’oh!

The Correct Place for the Chain.

That is where it should be before you start throwing all the bits back together. Now remember those crank arm bolt washers I spoke about. I lost one. I spent probably 20 minutes looking around the floor of the shed. It wasn’t until I actually looked inside the crank arm that I realised it was still in there, help in by some grease. Grrrr.

So, that is it. It really isn’t all that hard to get the cranks off and have a look at the bottom bracket. Actually, with the correct tools, it is a doddle. I am confident that I can replace a bottom bracket in 15 minutes.

That is the good news. The bad, I still have the bloody click, click, click noise. Arrgghhhhhh!

PS. A big thanks to Duke for the encouragement over the phone.