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MountainBikeReview.com's Forum Archives - General Discussion
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I hate the ask the "creak" question, but I'm frustrated. (10 posts)
|  I hate the ask the "creak" question, but I'm frustrated. | Santa Cruz
Sep 27, 2001 8:29 AM | | In the past I read a review about creaking coming from the drivetrain. I've done the following:
1. Took off the pedals, re-greased and lubed.
2. Lubed the seat post.
3. Oiled the seat rails.
I'm convinced the creak is from my XTR Cranks or my swingarm. How difficult is it to take off the cranks to re-torque the bolts and the bottom bracket? I've never done this but my LBS can not seem to issolate the problem and it's driving me nuts.
What size allen fits the allen bolts on the Chainring? I need to buy the tools to do this so any advice would be great.
P.S. Someoene months back advised their Superlite had a similar condition that was fixed by replaced the bushings on the pivot? I believe I'm correct in the above statement. |
| Possibly the bottom bracket | Fiver
Sep 27, 2001 8:37 AM | | Before you do anything to the BB, check the pivots. Remove your rear shock (at least unbolt one side) so the swingarm moves freely, and see if you can hear any noise coming from the pivots.
If the pivots are fine, the BB is a likely culprit when it comes to drivetrain creaking. I'd suggest pulling the BB and heavily coating the threads (BB and frame) with a thick lube or plumber's tape or something similar. Reinstall the BB and cranks and hopefully that'll do it.
For help, try Park Tool's website:
To remove splined crankarms:
http://www.parktool.com/repair_help/Pipe_Billet_Spindle_type.shtml
Replacing a BB:
http://www.parktool.com/repair_help/FAQcartdg.shtml |
| This could be a really stupid question !!! | Santa Cruz
Sep 27, 2001 8:59 AM | | Ok. here is a really stupid question. The creak does not occus when the bike is on the rack in the shop. Only when under load on the trails. Can I take off the shock and ride the bike, or am I limited to moving the frame around in my garage to determine the source of the noise? |
| I've read stupider | Fiver
Sep 27, 2001 9:28 AM | | Don't ride the bike with no shock, unless you want to damage the frame the first time you hit a bump. I only suggested you remove the shock to make it easier to move the swingarm and listen to the pivots. If you have an air shock (I assume you do, with a Superlight), you can deflate the shock to get a similar effect. Squeaky pivots should make themselves known as soon as you start moving the swingarm.
If your pivots stay quiet, the noise is probably coming from your BB. If so, you'll only hear it under load, unless it's really bad. |
| Check the bearings as well... | CMC
Sep 27, 2001 9:38 AM | | I cracked a bearing a couple of times with my Superlight. |
| I bet it's the bushings... | TechniKal
Sep 27, 2001 9:08 AM | | When the reducers or bushings on the shock get worn, they can squeak/creak quite a bit. To see if this is the cause, spray a little wd-40 at the reducers where they met up with the shock and see if it noise stops. Is so, replace the bushings/reducers or, for a temporary fix, wrap a little teflon tape around the reducers and put them back in. |
| re: I hate the ask the "creak" question, but I'm frustrated. | jedi
Sep 27, 2001 9:19 AM | | As far as tools go, you won't be buying just 1 allen key, get a nice set of Chesco metric allen keys, no shop is complete without 'em you can get them at any hardware store. You need a BB tool and a crank puller as well. If your bike isn't that old and you ain't pounding on it I don't think it would be your bushings. Check bottom bracket, crank arms, chain rings first. The fact that it doesn't happen on the stand doesn't isolate it to the shock, all that means is it only happens under load (load on drivetrain and shock). Most of my creaks have been pedal related, did you take the pedal off the axle or just grease the threads? Anyways there's my 2 cents.
Peace
Mike |
| another place to look | Doug
Sep 27, 2001 9:50 AM | | I had a creak in my old steel frame. I checked everything from the seat, post, BB, cranks, fork and even the frame for cracks. Nothing. I eventually found it was coming from the headset/stem/star nut. Not sure exactly what it was, but after removing and refitting the star nut the creak stopped. |
| You're not going to believe this... | MikeeR
Sep 27, 2001 2:19 PM | | ...but I might have a possible solution.
I've had a SC Heckler for almost three years now, just can't kill the thing. Mine had developed a creak sometime ago and, like you, I'd got my LBS to remove cranks and bottom bracket, that was after myself checking bushings and bearings. No luck, still creaking. The LBS even swapped over other cranks and bb without success, they were as frustrated as I was. We gave up in disgust and I learn't to live with it.
Some time later I was talking to the SC distributor (I live in Australia) about the creaking. He suggested (and apparently he'd got this from the guys at SC), and this is the part that is hard to believe, pouring some light weight machine oil into the little holes you can find at the inside rear of the swingarm, there's one on either side. Pour enough in so that when you lift the frame up it'll flow down the inside of the swingarm tubes towards the welds at the front. Holding the frame in the air, spin it around a bit so the oil coats all the inside. I left my frame hanging front down for a while to let the oil fully move to the front. Now I thought this sounded crazy, I couldn't believe this could cure the creaking, but as you've probably guessed it did. Apparently this has worked with a couple of other local superlights that had the same problem. Having hung around MTBR for a few years now I was surprised that I'd never heard this mentioned before.
Good luck. |
| Check the pinch bolts... | Joe Steel
Sep 27, 2001 3:56 PM | | I was recently going over my Superlight, tighening chain ring bolts that I thought were causing a creaking noise, when I noticed that one of the allen head pinch bolts had backed out (where the swing arm wraps around the lower pivot point). I removed the offending bolt, applied a little blue locktite, and reinstalled. |
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