Front derailleur frustrations

[moonlite]

Thanks everyone for your good advice. Finally got this done this morning. After giving both cups a good dose of penetrating oil, I wandered off to the local rural supply store to see if they had a breaker bar I could buy. They didn't, but on the way out I saw a heat gun for surprisingly little money, and the words of Novocaine above swam into my head . . . "warm it up . . ." -- so I bought it.

I was nervous about damaging the paint so went for a lowish heat over a longish period. The non-drive side cup then surrendered quite easily. It didn't seem to have been greased when it was installed 24 years ago, which may explain why it was stuck.

The drive-side took a bit more heating, with a higher setting over a longer period. In fact, it was still recalcitrant at one point so I tried clamping a large pipe wrench over the 2mm or so of aluminium cup that protruded from the shell and turning that. It didn't work, but it did distort the aluminium a bit, such that the BB tool then needed to be hammered into the splines (capable bike builders look away) with a rubber hammer. But the heat, distortion and hammering did the trick because without much more pressure, out it came!

Again, it was very dry which means I think the aluminium cup had bonded with the steel shell. But at least it was all done without hurting the frame.

 

[27motorhead]

I can sense the relief that this job has ended in success!!!

 

[novocaine]

now it's out, I'll tell the tale of woh when it goes wrong.

I worked in a bike shop, we had the tools. but in the corner was a 10' scaffold pole called Betty the destroyer. she was a lovely girl, there more as a threat than a promise, rarely used. I bought a nice new frame. OK, a new frame, it was a barracuda subway (this means nothing to most people, but it's quite possibly one of the best frames cuda every made, a really really good jump bike). I was busy on customer bikes so I left it in the "capable" hands of one of the other shop monkeys to swap the parts over from my very unhappy bike to my new shiny toy. not that hard, it's all there, hoses will be a tad long, but leave em be. easy.
he started with the BB. came out nice, went in nice for the first 4 threads then jammed up. any normal person would think "oh hay, maybe I've crossed it, better back out and pray". but not billy big balls and his chunk of fetted waste between his ears (I still see him, I didn't disown him). he breaks out the 2' breaker, then the 3' breaker, then the 3' breaker with the frame on the floor. then, nicely, he asks one of the others to help.

where does big betty come in to this? well, we now have a BB sat in a frame that's off piss and seized solid. it's eaten the shell, it's in there for good, anyone with his left leg slightly longer than his right would love this bike now. I'm now back on scene having come back from the warehouse, I walk in at just the right moment to see billy and his giant sack of wonder swinging from betty while monkey no. 2 tries to hold the BB tool in place against my once pristine new frame. I have to give betty some credit. the BB came out. there wean't any threads left on either the shell or the BB but it came out.

I got bought a new frame by the shop. the monkey was made to stand in the corner and count spoke nipples for the rest of the day.

notes* BB should never be the first job, it's the last job with the bike on the floor not in the stand. the stand we had was beefy to say the least.

 

[moonlite]

now it's out, I'll tell the tale of woh when it goes wrong.

I worked in a bike shop, we had the tools. but in the corner was a 10' scaffold pole called Betty the destroyer. she was a lovely girl, there more as a threat than asc promise, rarely used. I bought a nice new frame. OK, a new frame, it was a barracuda subway (this means nothing to most people, but it's quite possibly one of the best frames cuda every made, a really really good jump bike). I was busy on customer bikes so I left it in the "capable" hands of one of the other shop monkeys to swap the parts over from my very unhappy bike to my new shiny toy. not that hard, it's all there, hoses will be a tad long, but leave em be. easy.
he started with the BB. came out nice, went in nice for the first 4 threads then jammed up. any normal person would think "oh hay, maybe I've crossed it, better back out and pray". but not billy big balls and his chunk of fetted waste between his ears (I still see him, I didn't disown him). he breaks out the 2' breaker, then the 3' breaker, then the 3' breaker with the frame on the floor. then, nicely, he asks one of the others to help.

where does big betty come in to this? well, we now have a BB sat in a frame that's off piss and seized solid. it's eaten the shell, it's in there for good, anyone with his left leg slightly longer than his right would love this bike now. I'm now back on scene having come back from the warehouse, I walk in at just the right moment to see billy and his giant sack of wonder swinging from betty while monkey no. 2 tries to hold the BB tool in place against my once pristine new frame. I have to give betty some credit. the BB came out. there wean't any threads left on either the shell or the BB but it came out.

I got bought a new frame by the shop. the monkey was made to stand in the corner and count spoke nipples for the rest of the day.

notes* BB should never be the first job, it's the last job with the bike on the floor not in the stand. the stand we had was beefy to say the least.

That's a cautionary tale for sure. Makes the blood run cold.

I was paranoid the whole time that I would screw up the frame -- especially if I messed up the splines on the aluminium shells (and it was close). If that happened, I suppose the last chance would be melting it out in some way, with damage to the paint. What started as a simple chainset swap would have ended up a major job involving destructive methods, then a respray and rebuild.