mi cranks keep coming loose or off and that plastic spacer is flush or worn right down.xt hollowtech.

where can you buy it from?

The thing in the end? If it’s recent XT it doesn’t hold the crankarm on, it’s purely for preloading.

Hollowtech or HT2?

for HT2

cranks should not be coming loose, the spacer if you mean the cap at the end does nothing, you don’t need it. Technically not quite true but it is about bearing preload and nothing to do with holding cranks on.

The cranks are held on by the 5mm? bolts on the non driveside crank nothing else.

the little spacer where the bolts are not the preload cap.

cranks are old xt hollowtech maybe 4-6 years old

I think thats just to make sure the crank is on far enough, the little tooth drops into a hole in the axle. Then you preload and tighten. Or am I thinking of the wrong bit.

Is it a wee tabby thing that rotates round one of the bolts? If so, it’s only there to retain the arms if the bolts go slack but it’s pretty pointless, I removed mine as it was irritating.

My first ever double post, Finally, I was wondering how you idiots managed it.

yeah the little tooth tabby thing has snapped off which slots into the hole.

cranks keep coming loose for some reason,and i thought it might be to do with that 😯

Well there’s good news, and there’s bad news. The good news is, you don’t need a new plastic tab… But the bad news is that if the cranks are constantly coming loose, most likely either the spline on the axle or the threads in the crankarm are damaged. I’m ruling out undertightening because no mountainbiker in history has ever undertightened a bolt.

ahh bugger eh more expense ha
yeah prob worn out to buggery now.

When it comes loose, are the pinch bolts obviously loose or does it feel more like it’s moving around while still tight?

yeah today when it came loose the pinch bolts were tight but it was half hanging off.
you have to really push it on and tap on with rubber mallet to then tighten the bolts so it stays on,seems to wok its way loose,so think like you say its the splines

Unlucky mate, they’re shot. You need a new crankset.

yeah the little tooth tabby thing has snapped off which slots into the hole.
cranks keep coming loose for some reason,and i thought it might be to do with that

Other way round I suspect: the cranks came loose and that snapped of the plaggy clip

Agree, they are probably buggered – if you’re lucky might be only 1 side (either splines on the axle OR the inner splines in the LH crank) but I’d guess both

At 6yrs old it was probably approaching the end of its natural anyway.

cheers all yeah think i was being a bit optimistic with them 😀

I replaced the crank arm when it happened to me, that will probs be the culprit as it’s a softer metal (I think). XT Crank arm was £60 from LBS and is still going strong (again) 3 yrs later. Altho, in hindsight, it’s prob worth looking for cheap new complete unit.