Hi, I have had this issue with two BBs (BB-RS501 and BBR-60) and two separate cranks (Claris and Sora). It manifests itself as clicking when pedalling. As you can see and hear it's visible lateral play in the BB. The preload cap is maxed out. The pinch bolts are torqued up to spec. Any ideas why this occurs? My guess is that my BB shell doesn't actually measure 68mm.

Lateral play in BB
byu/Em_Jay_De inbikewrench



by Em_Jay_De

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    It would not hurt to remove everything and measure the width of your BB shell. A thin spacer between one of the cups and the frame should take up that space without any negatives.

  2. It looks like the whole system isn’t quite snugged together. Once the crank is slid on the spline, but before tightening the two bolts on the crank arm, make sure the plastic cap is snugged up to take out any slack. This is similar to the snugging up the top cap bolt on a threadless headset.

    If it’s still loose-

    [https://si.shimano.com/en/pdfs/dm/FC0002/DM-FC0002-17-ENG.pdf](https://si.shimano.com/en/pdfs/dm/FC0002/DM-FC0002-17-ENG.pdf)

    Pages 12-13 talk about spacers for Shimano cranks.

  3. Yep. You can either add a spacer under one cup, or use some kind of washer under the preload during installation.

    Preload can be completely removed once the bolts on non-drive side crank are torqued – which actually look pretty sick.

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