Drive side cup of Hope BB keeps coming loose.
I have a RaceFace Deus 2010 crank.

I’m running a Hope Ceramic BB and the spacers are set in the standard position on the crank. BB has two alloy spacers on the drive side and one on the non drive side. I tighten to the required torque (34Nm)and it lasts 2 rides and starts to work free again. Drive side bearing has already been replaced under warranty. BB originally had plastic spacers.

Thanks!

sounds like the splines on the crank are possibly worn/damaged/loose.

Threadlock?

I was running the same cranks and the SS hope BB with no problems at all. Sorry it’s no help but at least you know it’s possible!

More of a hope and your worn BB threads relationship i would think!!
Stick some threadlock or PTFE tape on the cups next time.
Cranks would’nt have any bearing(!) on the bb issue.

Ive just resolved this same issue – here goes its a bit of a tale:

I had loads of creaking and discovered it was coming from my crankset. The RF Evolve XC cranks use a sinlge compression nut to pull them together. Anyway the splines have all worn on the NDS shaft. Sent to LBS who sent off to Orange – Orange offered me a crash replacment scheme of £90 for a new set as “RF were bust so we cant do anything about it”. I told them to send them onto Silverfish (but apparently Orange buy direct from RF in us/Canada – in the end they did send them..

So Orange finally sent them to Silverfish – who agreed there was play on the splines and they were knacked. However SF claims this was caused because they hadnt been tightened enough into the RF BB – I told him they were fitted to a Hope BB on an 2010 Orange Five with the Hope BB upgrade and he said they shouldnt have been. The RF BB needs to be used as it is designed to work with these cranks. Using them with the Hope BB means you put too much sideways load into the hope BB bearings. The RF allows for tightening of the cranks more and prevents the splines wearing – a perfect fit where the Hope one may be out a mm or so.

Anyway – Silverfish spoke with Orange about this and I dont know the outcome. What I do know is that my 12mth old crankset was knackered and I am being sent some new crank arms and a new BB – after about 7 weeks of me moaning at my LBS, Orange and Silverfish.

Silverfish were ok to deal with and have resolved the problem when they didnt need to they could have said its your own fault. Other than the issues about getting in touch with them they have been very good. I know they arent public facing so this is probably why.

So moral of the story – don’t upgrade your BB to Hope BB if your using a set of Race Face Cranks I suppose – or sell the RF’s and but Shimano HT2 type cranks.

Actually reading properly not sure this is the same issue as my BB is fine unless of course your needing to overtighten the cranks and hence overloading the bearings from the side. Causing your premature wear.

Whats the width of your BB shell? If it’s 73mm you need one BB spacer (2.5mm) on the drive side only, none on the non-drive side.
I’ve been running a stainless Hope BB and Atlas cranks for 3 years with no issues.

68mm on a steel Charge Duster. Worn threads might be possible.
I’m going to check the condition of the bearings tomorrow.
I’m thinking King as I want something that’s fit and forget. But then I did spend the same on the Hope!

I’ve stripped the cranks out and the bottom bracket is tight.
So I guess it’s either the BB has compressed creating play, or the alloy bolt in the chainset that creates the compression has worn?

There’s most play when the cranks are horizontal. When vertical there’s not much play to be felt at all?

I think you’re focusing on the BB too much – the issue is far more likely to be that either you need more of those little spacers that RF use on the cranks to stop it overtightening the BB or that the splines ont the drive side crank arm have worn due to be run loose when you have had problems.

Hmmm…

There’s an inherent weakness in the RaceFace spine design, my own Evolve XCs lasted eighteen months before spline wear killed them. The surface anodizing on the arms wasn’t even worn.

The point about RF cranks being designed to be used only with RF bottom brackets sounds decidedly fishy to me, given that they used to cost £35 to Shimano XT’s £25 and lasted half as long at best.

After years of anything but Shimano, I’ve finally found a £150 crankset which I can live with without cause for complaint. It’s SLX.

what wwas says, the RF cranks come with little elastomer rings to take up slack and slightly preload the BB. They sit on the axle, IIRC I have a black one on the drive side which sits flush inside the crank against the splines, and an orange one the none drive side. Cranks are 5yrs old and have given me no issues other than the BB’s being cr@p and prone to contamination-related failure.

Going to work through it. I really don’t want to replace the BB unless I really have to. Wonder if I could replace the elastomers on the crank?

Looking at the RaceFace parts the spacer is missing from the crank bolt…

I ran a set of diabolus for a year that I bought from ebay for £10.50 because the splines were worn.

I simply made sure that I spaced the crank out properly and had no play, I also installed 2x grub screws through the drive side arm onto the splines and then, thread locked everything with a compound sealant, especially the through axle bolt, end cap thingy.

Then I hammered the crap out of it on my old commencal, drops, stairs, jumps, you should be able to fix it, one way or another, when I stripped my commencal I replaced the diabolus with an new style xt crank.

Hope you get your bike fixed 😀 good luck!

could the BB spacers be at issue? are they made of plastic or metal. the hope plastic spacers have a tendancy to compress, so now they all come with metal spacers.

could the BB spacers be at issue? are they made of plastic or metal. the hope plastic spacers have a tendancy to compress, so now they all come with metal spacers.

The point about RF cranks being designed to be used only with RF bottom brackets sounds decidedly fishy to me, given that they used to cost £35 to Shimano XT’s £25 and lasted half as long at best.

RF cranks and Shimano BB’s are compatible, the issue is with RF cranks and Hope BB’s. This is dye to the fact that the set up instructions with Hope bb’s tell you to not overtighten the cranks onto the spline to avoid ‘side loading’ the bearings.
This is an issue as RF cranks need to be tightened onto the splines sufficently enough to actually bottom out and hit a dead stop. RF and Shinano bb’s are designed to take this into account.
If you don’t tighten the cranks up enough ( in order to avoid crushing Hope bb bearings) then you do run the risk of the crank coming loose and this WILL cause premature wear on the splines.

Hope that helps?

Hi
thanks for all the input!
I’ve come up with an idea. I’ve ordered 3 hope metal 1mm spacers.
(already have 3 black alloy spacers sent foc from Hope)
This will let me change the spacing by .5mm or 1mm to see if it takes up the play. I’m pretty sure the bearings have compressed slightly, thus causing the play. This might well be caused by the “dead stop” required by the crank bolt. I can’t find a replacement bolt as yet. CRC have no stock and i’m not sure this is the cause anyway.

Spacer idea inspired by King tech support who send out shim packs to fine tune the play.

update to follow!

Hope were appreciative of the Shimano design that allows the play to be finely tuned out by the adjuster.

2.5 + 3x1mm =5.5 mm or 2.5×2 + 1x1mm = 6mm btw if not clear.

thanks
James

Got to the bottom of it – thread has fallen off the crank bolt. It just went round and round on the last attempted removal.
Will get on to Silverfish tomorrow to see if this can be sorted. Looking at the 2011 cranks the design of the bolt has changed..
hmmn.