Raleigh Sports Bottom Bracket Servicing

This page is a short discussion of servicing Raleigh-style bottom brackets. What are you going to need?

• 22x bearing balls of 1/4" (.250) diameter
• The non-drive side adjustable cup of appropriate threading
• The non-drive side lock ring
• The drive side "fixed" cup (probably still in the frame)
• The spindle (No. 16 or No. 16GC for a Raleigh Sports, or No. 8 or No. 8GC for a DL-1) 
• De-greaser of your choice (409, Simple Green, Dawn Power Wash, even WD40 works)
  

The first order of business is to clean and inspect all the bearing surfaces in the cups and the spindle. Below is a cleaned adjustable cub. This cup is in good shape - there is some wear to the races, but no pitting or damage. Your bearing surfaces should either be new and shiny, or show "smooth wear" (that is, a smooth track where the bearings have run but no pits).

Next, clean and select your bearings. There are two common ways to approach this: (1) you can replace all the balls at one time with new balls, or (2) you can re-use your old bearing balls. I don't recommend mixing and matching bearings in most cases - either replace them all or re-use them all. If you have a choice between those options, re-use the old balls. The old, British-made balls are generally better than the stuff you find online today.

A third option for the advanced mechanic is to go through balls and hand select them. In this case, I'm hand-selecting bearing balls using a caliper. I'm measuring down to 1/1000th of an inch and verifying each ball measures exactly .250. You need a caliper to do this. Otherwise, follow the advice above, replace them all or re-use them all.

So now the spindle is cleaned, the bearing balls are cleaned and ready, and the adjustable cup is cleaned. What next? Don't forget to clean the fixed cup. The fixed cup is the cup threaded into the drive side of the bottom bracket. I have a small, old tooth brush with plastic bristles I use to clean these. You can also use a brass bristle brush if you go carefully. I just reach in with some Simple Green, Dawn Power Wash, or even WD40, and brush the cup clean right inside the frame. You do NOT have to remove the fixed cup from the frame if it is in good shape. If it is worn badly or pitted, replace it only then.

It is important that you remove all old grease or oil from the insides of the crank holes, where they contact the bottom bracket spindle. I used Formula 409 to clean the insides of the crank holes and the spindle itself. 

So now, everything should be clean. Below you can see the cranks, spindle and adjustable cup.

Reassembly is just the reverse of disassembly. First, you have to decide if you want to run oil in the bottom bracket or grease. A medium-to-heavy weight oil is OK, and grease is also OK. Oil tends to run a bit faster, but is messier and needs to be replenished. Grease tends to stay in place better but doesn't turn quite as freely as oil does.

 

I use grease on my bottom brackets because I don't ride the same bike everyday. I also don't want oil getting onto the floor of my garage or basement (you can use an old cardboard under the bike if need be). If your bike is only a part-time rider or hobby bike, I lean toward using grease because it stays in place. It's also easier to re-assemble with grease because the bearing balls tend to stick in place with grease. If you prefer the feel of oil and are willing to put up with the mess and replenishing of the oil, then oil is fine. You'll probably still want to put a little smear of grease in the races to help stick the bearings in place when re-assembling. Either way, you need good lubrication of the bearings.

 

Place 11 balls in each lubricated cup and lubricate the races on the spindle. Put the spindle into the bottom bracket (the longer arm goes to the drive side) and hold in place. While holding the spindle in place, thread the adjustable cup back on. Then thread on the lock ring and carefully set the bearing tension using the adjustable cup threads. Once the tension is good, tighten down the lock ring. 

 

Bearing tension on a bottom bracket should allow smooth running but no clunking or play. You should be able to spin the cranks and have them go round-and-round a few times without grinding to a halt. You also should be able to push and pull on the crank arms side-to-side without feeling a large amount of play. A hint of play is OK, but it should not feel loose or clunky.