Saturday, July 28, 2012

Creaky Toy

Fat Bike Bottom Bracket: You make the world go round!
Recently By-Tor The Titanium Mukluk has developed a creaky-squeaky noise. I determined it was from the bottom bracket area, as it emanated from the nether regions of the bike, and made noise whether seated or standing. Mostly only making noise if I pedaled.

Well, I figured it was high time to take a peek in that bottom bracket shell anyway. I have been riding this since last December pretty regularly and in all sorts of conditions ranging from mud, snow, rain, to dry and dusty.

It really needed to be sussed out before winter gets here, (yes- it is coming, but I make no promises for snow), and now was the time to get after this. Besides, I have some immediate plans for this bike that can not wait long.

So I cracked it all open and whatta ya know.....I found a small pile of dried up dirt inside! Not muddy, not greasy at all, just good ol' dry dirt. A couple of table spoons full, I'd wager. Some of it was even slightly chunky, as in formed in small clods. Weird! How it got in there and in that form, I've no good answer for that.

Well, I cleaned it out easily enough, cleaned off the old anti-seize from the threads, reapplied new anti-seize, and re-installed everything. I figured that would take care of that! Well.........I was wrong. Creaky-squeaky still there! Now I am pointing an accusational finger at the Altenator drop outs. Still have not gotten around to taking that apart and cleaning them, but I'll report back with my results when I do.

Creaks. I hate 'em!

4 comments:

Dave said...

The search for creaks does cause angst. Last one I had to find turned out to be coming from a pedal bearing.

MG said...

Check your seat head. I had a similar issue recently and found the lower cradle on my seat post had a crack in it just below the saddle rail, which couldn't be seen until the saddle was fully removed... Once replaced, the creak was solved.

Good luck!

MG said...

Whoops... Just called myself out when I re-read your post and saw the "both seated or standing" comment. Now I'd try a slightly loose pedal, if it isn't the Alternator dropout. Sorry for my confusion... I've been on vacation.

Glenn said...

I have a similar thing going on with my Ti Mukluk that I can't figure out either. Half the time I believe it is my seat rails and the other half I think it is the rear dropouts... Curious to see what you find....