Campag Power Torque bearing removal

I bet you don't know how important those little numbers are on the stem of your bike? Read this blog post and find out how these little numbers can change how you repair your bike!

https://www.probiketool.com/us/how-important-is-torque/

Interesting thread. Having read it I decided to have a go at replacing the bearings on both sides of mine as there was a little noise starting to be emitted after 5000 miles or so. I picked up two ABEC 5 bearings for £22 delivered. they're higher spec than the standard ones by some way. 

I was able to tap the bearing out of the non drive side cup easily and used the old bearing to tap the new one into place easily too. Drive side I did as mentioned above. The result, no more expense than a replacement cup with bearing and new drive side bearing, possibly a little cheaper, and the smoothest predalstroke I've felt in a long time

Interesting, I had a cracking develop on my Centaur power torque bb, even though it had had little use. After a good deal of faff I took my bearing to a bearing specialist in order to match correctly. I was stunned to hear from the guy serving me that the bearings I was replacing were an inferior brand sourced from China.
As the cranks and bb were now removed I opted to replace with the latest Shimano Tiagra four bolt ring fastening offering. Fitting is a dream by comparison, no doubt replacing bb's in future will be easy even if bearings have a shorter life. I now have a nearly new Campag chainset with a new set of bearings with a decision hanging over me, fit or forget.

Did it twice using the campagnolo puller, but have also flushed out creaking bearings and dirt with wd40 and forced in new marine grease with a pointy grease gun. Works!

ah yes, power torque .... getting the non drive side arm off can be
entertaining. The park tool version is a waste of time if the am is
"stubborn". i ended up getting the cyclus ones !
you can get the bearing out of the cup using a blind bearing puller
as well .....

FYI

The PT bearings are 37x25x7mm if you want to upgrade the things.

In my experience the bearings are the biggest drawback in PT, my old cranks' (Red Centaur) bearings have always been stiff. I have a pair of Centaur UT that spin much smoother in comparison.

I used a cup removal tool and a dead blow hammer to pop the bearing out of the LH cup. Just follow the UT instructions for remove the crank bearing. Much easier to do with the cup in the frame BTW but not impossible.

I have just replaced the bearings on the 2012 Athena Powertorque chainset of my winter bike. It's quite involved but now done! After 2 winters, the drive-side bearing was quite gritty and needing replacement.

I did it using:
14mm allen key
Campag tool UT-FC-090
Machine mart 2 leg puller (see below)
Homemade protector shim
Flat-bladed screwriver
Wooden mallet

To avoid shelling out £70 for the Facom tool U.301 puller, I bought a Clarke CHT436 puller from Machine Mart (#040211436) for £8.39 and dremmelled the slots to make it open slightly wider. I made a crank protector from some 0.2mm thick plastic card to avoid denting or scratching the front, side and rear surfaces of the cranks during removal.

I followed the general theme on the Campag YouTube video:
http://youtu.be/L1_3smRyk-w

And once removed, I used a mallet and screwdriver to get the old bearings off the crank and off the shell on the non-drive side. I very carefully used the same tools to fit the new bearings, making sure to tap on the edge adjacent to the crank and shell rather than on the bearing side. You could use the Park tools in the video below, though.
http://youtu.be/hAWRjp0h8pU

It took me about an hour in total, although modifying the puller and making the shim took a lot longer, as did doing the research to find out how to do it!

As a design engineer by trade, I am surprised how involved this job is. The last cranks I worked on (Shimano 105) were an absolute doddle in comparison.

Hey Jem!
Did you manage to change the bearings without buying a new set of cups :-). If so, any tips and tricks?
Carsten.

Good thinking Russ. I've already figured out that my small puller ( bought years ago for car use ) will do the job if I grind the ends down to size.

But to be honest, I don't anticipate having to replace the bearings for at least ten years. This will be my new "best bike" and will lead a relatively sheltered life.

erm i run power torque (veloce) from what i have gathered the one on the crank can be changed relatively easily. the one in the cup is a bin and buy affair. the bottom brackets can be had for £15/20 if you gave some effort you probably could remove it but i reckon you would only save £5-6 over buying new.

incidentally mine is on my winter bike and going strong! due to our 'summer' i my winter bike has done around 3500 miles since the campag went on and it runs perfectly so its up to the job.

tip for crank removal, buy a gear puller and stick 2 coins in where the massive bolt comes out (think i used 2 foreign coins) saves on pricey park/campag tools.

russ

Can't help you but I've just bought, but not yet installed, a Centaur groupset, complete with Power Torque bottom bracket.

I'll be watching your thread with interest.