Steel Axle vs AL6061 Arms

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  • eZ peeps!
    Well, after totally stripping my drive to find where the annoying creaking was coming from I found that it was a loose left sided crank arm.
    After taking off the arm I was shocked to see some chipping had occurred inside the taper, caused by contact to the BB axle.
    I've only had me FSA Vero crank set since May '09 and it sucks that the material is beginning to wear so soon =[
    I now need to replace the entire arm but before I go searching for one, I was wonderin if I should get a Steel crank arm so it counters the friction caused by the Axle and reduces future chipping?
    Whaddya thinks..will this work?
    Z

  • Is the square recepticle in the crank arm square still? How big are these chips? How badly was the crank creaking? Pics? Steel cranks are obviously more robust but you shouldn't have any issues with the ali ones if they are tightened properly. I find with cranks its best to lube up the bolt threads and then tighten the buggery out of it, over a period of a few days with riding in between. Had a bad experience with mashed cranks as a youngster due to underzealous tightening and find this method is fool proof.

    You might get away with using it again, probably worth a try. I put a large ring spanner over the end of the allen key to do up mine (Have FSA Vero's too) getting a good foot or so of leverage and have had no probs. If i'd just used the allen key on its own I'd 100% expect my cranks to be ruined by now.

  • hey hoonz,
    the square receptacle is still fairly square but for the chipping around its edge, which isn't that big...maybe 1mm at its widest points...its now been reinstalled with loads of grease, but I'm still getting a creak (not as pronounced as before, but still there)

    p.s - About the tightening advice; I was talking to a mech at my LBS yesterday and he told me that creaks can be caused by ***over ***tightening stuff...! However, he couldnt diagnose my problem unless it got booked in for a total service..and even then he might not find the source of da creak >_<

    man I wish I purchased a more expensive, quality crankset now..

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Steel Axle vs AL6061 Arms

Posted by Avatar for zep @zep

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