I'm actually quite annoyed that I need to ask this question, but unfortunately the cartoon accompanying my shiny new 2x10 crankset doesn't really want to tell me much apart from torque wrench settings, maintenance procedures and what isn't SRAM's fault...
I was a bit shocked by the loose outer seal when I unpacked the kit... I'm used to it being bad news if I can see the bearing cartridges before I even fit the kit, but I'm led to believe this is normal on these (so that you can take it apart every time it gets wet and regrease everything ...)
What I really want to know though, is SPACERS.
There's a lot of conflicting information out there, and the SRAM tech manual is a tad out of date so while excellently detailed has little about 2x10 (only double and bash which ought to be a different chainline) and the cranksets in it are all ood.
My BB shell is 68mm and my crankset is an X5 2x10 (to see if I like this new thing...)
I *think* what the pretty pictures on the 'instuctions' mean is 'no spacers for 73mm, 2 spacers for 68mm and 83mm' although this sounds odd (some places look like the 83mm part may be completely different)
It's a little annoying as the kit seems to have no spacers at all (I've looked very carefully after the false accusation on the covers)
The vendor is offering me a replacement bb by post, but what I need to to know really is should I have spacers and do I need them? I don't really want to test-fit to find out as that could complicate return...
in 20 minutes of searching the web, the only info i found was 2x spacers (1 each side) for 68mm, none for 73mm..
83mm would be a different part.
For a double you should have 2x 2.5mm spacers on the drive side.
Use a good BB tool, the cup type, not the cheapo wrench type.
Grease everything before assembly, pop the bearing caps in & insert the cranks & torque them up.
Easy peasy to pull the cranks out again if you need to, & you may need to. The drive side bearing cap on my X9's has a habit of coming out as there is no direct side pressure on the bearings.
At the moment, I have a Black spire stinger chain guide on there as well as the spacers as well as a large O ring on the spindle between the bearing cap & crank.
It doesn't affect the chainline as that is dictated by the non drive side.
Replacing the bearings with Enduro bearings & cap will hopefully stop the cap coming out.
Thanks guys!
Sorry if I sounded annoyed/petulant last night but I really couldn't believe how much conflicting info there was and howe little official info SRAM seemed to want to publish for teh straight threaded GXP.
I'll go with the spacers then, and do the 'maintenance' greasing procedure on install.
Is Juice Lubes Bearing Juice going to be fine for this or do I need something more specific?
I had the same dilemma:
Don't need spacers for 68mm BB
http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/this-is-normal-right-bottom-bracket
Lol. That was pretty much my WTF! moment when I opened the box to fit the BB and the end fell off it...
As to the spacers and per the comments here, on the thread you linked and various other parts of teh internet, it seems the confusion is due to different requirements of SRAM and Truvative cranksets and in road and MTB applications and that SRAM think a badly drawn Powerpoint makes more sense than a Shimano style install sheet.
So far as I can tell, with a SRAM crankset with a GXP bb on a 68mm shell MTB you should have one spacer each side, and none on a road crank when fitted to a 68mm shell or an MTB crank fitted to a 73mm shell with the same bb...
Between the confusion over spacers and the obvious impact this can have on preloading and the requirements of this BB for regreasing, I can understand why the GXP bb gets so many premature failures reported...