Sealed Cartridge Bottom Bracket Disassembly/Assembly 

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For a non-serviceable part it looked very serviceable. thanks.

Hey RJ - Your video gave me the confidence to pull apart my crunchy "sealed" bottom bracket to see what was going in there. Bearings were fine, no rust or dirt but dry as a bone. I cleaned and greased and reassembled and it works perfectly! It's a crime to toss out that entire assembly for the want of a dab of grease! Thanks for your excellent and informative videos. You are providing a great service to us!

Simple commodity 68mm English threaded BB's are 20 to 40 USD now. This video aged well with the pandemic, hyperinflation, and supply chain issues. Thank You RJ!

I was out walking with a friend yesterday and he was talking about how his sealed square taper bottom bracket had been giving him some issues, so he had ordered a new one to replace it. He threw the old one away and then wished that he had kept it to perform a postmortem to see why/where it had failed. Not having seen this specific video but being VERY familiar with your channel, I assured him that you had probably overhauled one and I told him I send a link to the video later that day if I could find it. Lo' and behold, RJ, you never disappoint! I'd give this video two thumbs, if I could. Thank you for your thoroughness and curiosity. For all of us cyclists and DIYers, you are the giant upon whose shoulders we stand atop.

Your videos rock! And this one is no exception! I've gone from just a bike rider and tinkerer to full fledged "I will take on anything and everything repairing or rebuilding bikes" - person, thanks in no small part to many of your videos! ...and then a lot of learning on older cheaper bikes.

I watch your videos religiously now.thank you for clear camera quality and step by step tutorial.ive never serviced my bike before(I’d take it to the shop)but with your videos I take much pride in my quality of ride.your heaven sent lol

I always enjoy your videos. I appreciate that you rebuilt a part that wouldn't normally be rebuilt. It's really interesting and educational to watch! Keep it up👍🏻

Thanks man, you're the reason why I keep going when I'm out of nerves while restoring some old bikes of mine. Great effort, great videos, really helped me out a lot! Cheers mate!

RJ...once again, your service has proved to be invaluable. Thank you.

Very useful video, I learned a lot about these so-called sealed cartridge bottom brackets. The fact that the Shimano unit that you disassembled has cone races instead of circular races explains why some of these come out of the box with too-tight or too-loose bearings. They are ADJUSTABLE and are not carefully adjusted at the factory. Also, the assembly you showed looked more like a headset in that it uses a tab washer over the adjustable cone, and then a locknut. This can be tricky to get right the first time, as you demonstrated. From now on, I will be seeing if I can dial in the adjustment on new units before installation. Also, I have come to the conclusion that the old style crank bearings are superior to the unit that you reviewed because they have larger balls, are readily rebuildable, easily adjustable without partial disassembly, have two supported cups (not just supported on one side) and have replaceable parts (spindle and cups).

Thanks Again! You saved my bottom bracket from the dumpster. For the record BB-LP26 comes apart exactly the same way yours did.

Thanks for this, I needed another reminder today. I'm working on my cherished 2008 mountain bike and pretty much overhauling all of the moving components. Your videos have made my work so much easier, and ordering parts online has been less confusing. Thanks.

Thanks for this awesome video! I just bought a new a Schwinn Solara from Target on EBay, and not even 20 miles my bike made creaking and knocking sounds from the bottom bracket.Like they forgotten grease in the bearings. I now have to teardown a brand new bike and hopefully this solution will fix it!!! Thanks again!

Thank you for this! Even if I don't plan on overhauling, it actually helped me understand the inner workings of my BB!

Love your vids. I find old bikes all the time and watch for anything I need to fix. Thx man. Keep up the good work!

Thanks for the thoroughness of the video. I took apart my bracket and put it back together again with confidence. It spins very smoothly now.

Just finished the process on my old Schwinn Mt. bike, with a Shimano sealed cartridge BB. Exactly as described in this video- thanks much!!!

Nice to know these can be reserviced! Thanks from Texas!

Hi RJ, I had to double check if it was this channel and it sure is. Many years back, I watched your guide on using seafoam. It was a time before I got into cycling, and now we meet again haha! Thanks for this guide, I'll give it a shot on my bike!

Your a clever guy. Well done. Your interesting and helpful.

This clip was "FANTASTIC" an "IMMENSE" Help!!! Thanx RJ

Now i can revive my old bottom braket tnx to you rj the bike guy. :))

Thanks to this video I rehabilitated a grinding, sticky, ancient bottom bracket from the Altus crankset on my '95 Trek Multitrack. I'm awaiting a Deore crankset but want to ride so I put the old set back on. The model on it is CT90 I believe and it was basically the same as the one in the video with different sized bearings.

Never thought about regreasing one of those. I have several used ones in my spare parts box, so thats a project for a rainy day. Thanks for the vid.

Hey RJ, thanks for this info, those of us with older bikes and limited funds this really helps a bunch, I subscribed and find your vid's very helpful keep up the great work.

I swear, by watching your channel, I'm going to learn everything there is to know about bikes.

oh my gosh. i have been looking for a video like this. i have never fooled with my bottom bracket on my gravity bike but the drive side had a bad wobble and the cranks were tight. this video literally has saved my bacon. I subscribed to your channel and I appreciate you putting this out there. Have a great week.

Thanks RJ! Would have missed a ride tomorrow if it wasn't for you. Thanks again.

Everybody keeps saying that I just need to replace my BB and buy a new. Incidentally my cheap ass don't want to pay for a new one without trying to fix it myself. I learn something new every time I watch a video on your channel RJ! You don't know how lucky we are to have you uploading these for free! Saving cyclists like me a ton of money in the long run. Love from the Philippines!

Brilliant vid mate,I've thrown loads and loads of them in the bin in my time, didn't know you could open them up and renew the bearings and grease.... Good job 👍👍👍

Still relevant in 2021. Thanks bike boss.

thanks man. it does really help to maintain my own bike.

Cool! Didn't know that a sealed BB could be rebuilt that easily. Your tutorial will save our Co-op a lot of time and money.

Have been looking for such a well explained video to do this for a while, thanks !

I had a 2 day course on essential maintenance. They did not dive in this deep obviously. I'm overhauling a Trek 7400 and it has this style of BB and this is great to see. Thank you.

This is so helpful and informative. Thank you very much for sharing!

good video amazing never thought these could be dismantled

never seen one of these being opened. Good job!

Great video loved the directions and advice.

Well done. Learned a lot! Thank you!

Excellent video. Useful too, as replacement sealed cartridge bearings for some models are now quite hard to find.

really like all your videos. Easy to follow tells me what I want to know.

I just bought one of these for my fixie nice to know I can service it

Excellent video man!!!!!

love your vids man, can't see me ever doing this as they are very inexpensive parts but great to see inside them anyhow.

68mm English thread 103mm his square taper this is why I'm here, getting a bit thin on the ground these now so I'll try this 👍

My BB tool arrived today so I was wondering if this was even possible, so thanks for the video. I was a bit confused about which side was the drive side, but I guess I can rewatch it and figure it out.

THANKS AGAIN, LIKE ALWAYS YOUR VIDEOS ARE VERY HELPFULLY AND HELP SAVE A BUCK TO .

I always viewed sealed cartridge BB as disposable. I might give it a try when mine wear out and see if that helps :) Thanks that was very informative!

Your video is very interesting and helpful.

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Thank You Bike Guy.!!!

So now, I'm just gonna go ahead and click like... like that. Always lots of good info RJ. Thanks for providing this resource!

Great fan of you RJ From North Afghanistan

Awesome video man. I always wonder if this was possible but never had the spare time to try to try it.

Nice demo. Thankyou.

Great job, thanks for the video and take care

ya...i love it when i can rebuild something..thks for this...luv it THKS!!!

Only just came across this post (2022). Well it's an eye opener, "sealed unit" what a scam and that's all it is. how much money and waste has been generated by these units. Shimano must be laughing all the way to the bank, well thanks to you a lot of people will save money. Your posts have given me the confideance to do all my own work on my bikes, thank you and keep up the good work.

Well - I guess timing is everything. Just replaced a sealed cartridge bottom bracket bearing set with a new one and spent about $20 to do so. And just one day later, I run across your video here on overhauling one of these sealed cartridge units. And guess what - the one you did is the exact same one I just replaced. So, just for practice and to have a possible spare for another bike down the line, I followed your excellent, step-by-step procedures and now have a perfectly running sealed cartridge bottom bracket bearing set. Besides needlessly spending about $20, it also turned out the new one that’s now on the bike had some less than perfect threading that made it very difficult to thread on the bottom bracket shell. It’s on and it’s one correctly but I pity the poor soul who years from now will be faced with getting this thing off!! Anyway, your video was outstanding!! Just one question - how did you know that first lock nut on the non-drive side was a left handed thread? Was that through trial and error or did you know something to indicate it would be a left handed thread?

Thanks for this video 👍✊👍

Very interesting and helpful i will try to do it thank you.

Nice job! When working with loose bearings I always use a telescopic magnet to keep them together.

Confirming the method works for BB-CT90. Many thanks - really helpful.

I clean and relube freewheels to save £ after watching your single speed freewheel overhaul vids. Looks like I'll be servicing these bottom brackets now!

Muchas gracias...exelente video¡¡

Thanks Its very helpful

Very helpful thankyou 👍

Good work

to catch the bearings i use a little magnet and is very useful, easier. very good video, i´ll fix mine soon, greetings from mexico

Excellent, thank you!👍🚴‍♀️

Gracias maestro! No sabía que esta pieza se podía reparar! Thank's so much !

Thank you very much now it's gonna be more cheeper to just replace the barings and greas than the entier bottom bracket

RJ, thank you very much! The video is over usefull, though your speech is fast enough for foreigners. But it's better to see 1 time than to hear 100 times! :-)

Nice one.👍

Thanks for this video. I feel a little bit of play in my bb. So I thought, let me pop in here, to see if it's fixable. (our LBS's charge ridiculous amounts of cash for new ones) I never knew that it can be opened. I will fix mine this weekend. Thanks RJ!

very informative..

Great video I hate the idea of throwing the whole bottom bracket away so hope mines like this

Saludos desde San Cristóbal, ciudad de La Cordialidad en Venezuela 🇻🇪 Exelente video. Gracias por compartir sus conocimientos. 👍👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

Hey RJ.... I love your grease gun!! I ordered it on amazon recently. I fix bikes out of my house, and my 2 sons that work in a local bike shop keep on stealing it our of my toolbox!! I guess I know what they will get for Christmas!

Thanks for the video :) Shimano loves to make impossible to tighten things. Once I have disassembled Shimano pedals: PD-M324. The bearings are hold in place using 2 cones like the hubs use. The catch is that the cones need to be tightened inside a tube. I was able to find the tool to tighten them on web, but costs over 50€ (more than a new pair of pedals!!!) and is almost impossible to source. So I have rather bought new non Shimano pedals that are able to be serviced. Since after many attempts I was not able to tighten those Shimano pedals (PD-M324) to proper tension. Ether too tight or too loose. I have also find that original grease Shimano uses is low quality, so I usually just replace it with new, if able. I have also come across Shimano hubs that are tightened improperly (too tight or loose)!

I have an almost brand new BB that is creaking already. Fortunately I did not throw out my old one, so will try this and see if I can resurrect it and fix them both. Thanks!

Surprised that that there was hardly any grease on the bearings after disassembly. Either water gets in them or hardly any grease is applied in the factory.

Thank you! Just opened mine up and followed these steps exactly! I noticed the pedaling being not smooth so I figured a good re-grease should help. Wheel bearings may have contributed as they also feel a bit rough after taking off the wheel here, so that's next on the list. Have you done a video on a simple rear wheel hub bearing re-grease? Thanks, -SS1 1998 Schwinn Mesa GSX

Nice

Thank you, I was wondering what was inside.

tnx

great job; HenkR

Thx sir

Can I just show some gratitude real quick? Forever grateful for my father youtube.

I have that exact awl! I think I've had it about 30 years.

你很棒

Yes very good i must keep my next one i remove and give it a good clean and grease

Thanks! Left thread - that is what I missed. I think lock nut goes serrated side in. Also, on my bike plastic cap goes on that lock nut, not the other size.

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hey RJ do you think this would fix a creaking bottom bracket similar to that? it doesn't have play and I suspect that it's out of grease what do you think?

Great video. Is the Shimano BB-5500 like that one? i'd like to service mine. Thanks

wow, just threw out my complete assembly the other month, as I didn't think it would be this straight forward to re-grease it.... Won't happen again ;)

Do you use grease on locking washer when locking? I will measure torque needed for loosing nut on fabric assembled BB cartridge. I belive somenthing lower torque is used for locking, so using same torque for locking must be good.