Creak Abatement Phase 4 - Atlas

Coupled with the teaser bottom bracket from the last post, I'll be installing these Race Face Atlas cranks on the Turner. These Topo Atlas jobs have seen limited duty on the blue EWR and are pretty low miles, so coupled to the new bottom bracket I should, *should*, have a lot of riding from this set up in store. We shall see...

EWR been in storage for about 8 months, so a little of this is dirt, and even more is dust.

Arm pulled and cranks on the way out. I will not be removing the Race Face bottom bracket.

Gutted like a trout on a summer creek fishing trip.

Phase two of the gutting starts here. I'll be canning the three piece cranks and moving on to the Atlas. Ironically enough, it was HERE that I found the creak, I'm sure. The DRIVE side cup was loose in the frame. Finger tight to boot. Must have happened when the plastic cup split, and the wallowing motion of pedaling allowed the drive side to back out. Dammit.

Removed and cleaned.

Cups going in. There is of course, a special tool...being that it is a Shimano part, there is ALWAYS a special too. Bastards. Don't forget the bottom bracket on the drive side is reverse threaded!

Cup in, chain on the outside of the bottom bracket spindle, ready for the drive side arm.

Done and done. Lets ride! (how many times have I said that chasing this damn creak?)

And the tools used for the job. Note on the top of the picture the Thomson post, yet to be installed, but if I STILL have a creak, then I'm throwing in the post. If it STILL creaks after that, then I'm burning the whole bloody mess to the ground and getting a moped.

Creak Abatement Phase 4 - Prequel!

Cliffhanger Alert!

The creak continues, and in case you haven't noticed by looking at the dates of these posts, I am not troubleshooting this over a period of hours, this is instead a long process that I've been working through over a few weeks, and I'm only now sending all this worthless information to you.

Now to explain the pic. I no buy too much from the LBS. My LBS is good for cables and ferules and housing and spoke nipples and crap like that. OR, if I want a $9400 carbon mountain bike from China, then they have me covered. If I want parts though, I trust my own fingers and eyes, and I do my own legwork, and I hit the usual suspects on line. I know it's a weak way to be, what with the economy being in the toilet and all, but the reality is, my LBS second guesses everything I ask them to order, so for example... Here I want a black Thomson post in 410mm length and 27.2mm diameter, and an external bottom bracket cup set from Shimano. Had I gone to the LBS, then I would be presented with a Truvativ post of some ilk and a Token bottom bracket cup set or some such crap that can be easily ordered with one phone call from the QBP catalog. AND, I would have been keystoned over the head in the cost department to boot! No thanks, I'll order it myself...

And that Cliffhanger part!?... Well, why would I need external bottom bracket cups if I have a square taper crank set on the Turner? Hmmm...

Creak Abatement Phase Three - plastic bottom bracket cup failure?

Creaky bastard.

I aint a smart man, but I know that the Turner was not engineered to creak. I also know it aint the pivots or the shock bolts, or for that matter the seat post (fairly certain). SO, the search continues.

Post ride inspection yielded this...

Shimano UN-54 bottom bracket cup failure. It is the plastic non drive side cup. Typical for UN-5*, but finding a UN-7* bottom bracket is getting harder and harder to do, so I threw the LX grade unit in there just to get the bike rolling.

The tools... 14mm socket and a wrench, and the trusty Park crank puller. Actually, this is a new Park crank puller, as the old one has flared too much to use. Not so trusty, maybe?

Old and new pullers. Quite a flair on the old one. This is how they wear out.

Twist out the 14mm bolt, check to make sure there isn't a washer in the crank arm still, and then thread in the puller. Twist.

We're fighting creaks here, people. So inspect that crank arm taper after its off the bike. Here the Turbine arm looks perfect.

Splined bottom bracket sup tool. Remember that removing the bottom bracket cups means turning toward the front of the bike on both sides. Drive side is reverse threaded... Unless you're name is Pinarello.

The offending crack. What a cheap POS. Shimano should know better than to make this part from plastic, and I should know better that to buy the LX grade part.

Actually, I own quite a few of them, so I should have known better more than once! Here, like an Arkansas Governor's cigar, the new retainer cup is liberally greased up and ready to go.

Thread it on in...

And snug it up! Next stop, install the arm, and then hopefully enjoy the sounds of silence!

Creak Abatement Phase Two! - Race Face post?

The new Turner collar is in place, and it done be fitted much more snugly than the original collar that came with the frame. I had hopes that the issue would be resolved, but no dice as yet. SO... creaky post?


5mm Allen twisted to the left and I'm post free from the frame, clean the seat tube and post, regrease and re insert. The Race Face Diabolus post has these nifty little markings so I can asses where I had the post before I took it out, and then I can reinsert to the same saddle height. Science is neat!

Sink to the 40 marking, and then snug the 5mm allen and wipe the excess grease. Ride and pray!

Seat Post clamp replacement - AKA Creak Abatement Phase One

The Turner creaks. Aluminum frames make for excellent resonance chambers. So while most bikes have a chirp or pop here or there, they are usually masked by the materials that the frame is made of. Big-tubed Aluminum does not afford that luxury at all. This is one of the main reasons that Cannondales have always had a reputation for creaking. Their reputation for snapping in half though, is another story.

I digress.

Back to the Turner.

I've regreased the bottom bracket and the seat post where it inserts into the frame, and I've greased the saddle frame rails where they contact the seat. The pivots are greased. After a while of riding , the chirp returns.

SO...seat collar maybe?

On the right, the original Turner 5Spot collar, and on the left, the new style Turner collar.

And again. It's a stretch, but I'm desperate. Stop that infernal creaking!

Hot Sauce

Loves me some cheap nasty Hot Sauce! We're talking Janeane Garofalo nasty hot!

Rockers explained...

Not all Turner 5Spot rockers are created equal. There are three legths from Turner, evolved over the life of the TNT/HL four bar bikes. 5.5 inchers, 5.3, and 5.1 with and without cutouts on the non drive rocker for the air valve on a Fox shock. I posted earlier about rocker failure at the air valve on my original set of 5.3's. Since then I've been stocking up and running different links...

The relieved and unrelieved 5.1's

My loots...5.5's to the left, and two sets of 5.1's. The lone undamaged 5.3 is at the top. Another set of 5.3's is on the bike right now.

The three lengths, side by side.

5.5's, on the scale at 155gms.

5.3's, 134gms.

And the 5.1's, logically the lightest of the group at 114gms.

Final Score...USF 23 - Notre Dame 20

It has taken 5 days for the beer to wear off... Fun game!

Toad Details - First post using the new format...

This sucker closed on the flea a few months ago (or at least it was ended by the seller....the punk), but before it did I shamelessly ganked all the pictures from the auction.  Fillet Brazed steel is beautiful.  We're talking Janeane Garofalo hot here, people.  Lusty, but in an angry tattooed sense of the word.

Off Road Toad - Team Toad, from about 1989 I'd guess...

Damn...hide the goats.

Spotted! - Bike Tampa?

License plate on a car in front of the NOC, Nantahala River Gorge, North Carolina

Seasons

Let the Michigan Board of Tourism try to spin this...

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