this is a cheap crankset i got from china which fits hollowtech BBs. I have only managed to tighten the inner bolt (which is a 8mm hex) do i need to tighten the cap? which is the specific tool needed? (its a octogonal hole!)
You only need to tighten the inner 8mm hex. It should (if it’s a decent rip-off of the DUB style but with a 24mm spindle) go up to ~54Nm which is a massive amount of torque. Like, you need a decent sized wrench + 8mm bit to do it.
You need to (again, assuming DUB style due to the use of the preload collar visible in your second photo)
– Tighten 8mm hex to 54Nm
– set preload by twisting collar to remove side-to-side movement
– tighten the tiny hex (very lightly probs like 1-2Nm) on the collar
That massive outer hex that’s visible in your first photo is just the extractor cap, since your cranks are self-extracting.
Here is a screenshot from one of the product pages.
You need to tighten it to 54Nm, that is A LOT. A lot more than you can do with a “normal” allen key. You need a LONG wrench, and even then you need to put a lot of force (your whole body weight) on it.
For reference, a cassette needs to be tightened to about 40Nm, so this is even more than that.
Stunning-Date2526 on
I have that Crankset and it use to come loose while riding until I torque it as tight as I could, no torque wrench but it has never come loose since then. Maybe one day I’ll torque it to specs
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edit: this is coming loose when I ride
You only need to tighten the inner 8mm hex. It should (if it’s a decent rip-off of the DUB style but with a 24mm spindle) go up to ~54Nm which is a massive amount of torque. Like, you need a decent sized wrench + 8mm bit to do it.
You need to (again, assuming DUB style due to the use of the preload collar visible in your second photo)
– Tighten 8mm hex to 54Nm
– set preload by twisting collar to remove side-to-side movement
– tighten the tiny hex (very lightly probs like 1-2Nm) on the collar
That massive outer hex that’s visible in your first photo is just the extractor cap, since your cranks are self-extracting.
That type of crank set is the SRAM DUB standard
Here’s the manual (scroll all the way down)
https://docs.sram.com/en-US/publications/7unL17qdyCWxTL38aPmYJ0/dub-cranksets-and-bottom-brackets#hashItem=dub-crankset-installation
I’d also suggest putting some blue threadlocker on the screws.
https://preview.redd.it/w9ql4cfsonbe1.png?width=379&format=png&auto=webp&s=9e437084612d7856e6542152560f578a82209d7f
Here is a screenshot from one of the product pages.
You need to tighten it to 54Nm, that is A LOT. A lot more than you can do with a “normal” allen key. You need a LONG wrench, and even then you need to put a lot of force (your whole body weight) on it.
For reference, a cassette needs to be tightened to about 40Nm, so this is even more than that.
I have that Crankset and it use to come loose while riding until I torque it as tight as I could, no torque wrench but it has never come loose since then. Maybe one day I’ll torque it to specs