Thank y'all for the help on my two frozen bottom brackets. Got them "unstuck" just a little bit ago. I was overwhelmed by the responses from the list, some of them I would like to highlight:
1. To the three individuals who wanted to ask the obvious, yes I was turning the wrench the correct direction for an Italian fixed cup. I will admit I had second thoughts on numerous occasions. 2. I have been to auto parts stores, gun stores and hardware stores and I am the proud owner of about 9 different anti-seize penetrants recommended by various posters. 3. There is a guy in Michigan that will have a professional BB removal tool available from his machine shop at the end of March for $75.00. I hope I am first in line. 4. I tried the vise trick repeatedly, but to no avail. 5. Lastly, I got them out using about $3.00 of nuts and bolts as outlined by Sheldon Brown at: (A couple writers suggested home made tools very similar to this)
http://www.sheldonbrown.com/
If you don't have a bench vise, or if the vise technique happens to not work well on your bike, you can make a universal fixed cup tool for less than a dollar (assuming you have access to a couple of large wrenches).
The tool is an imitation of a $40 shop tool that fits into the fixed cup as a crank spindle would, and pinches the cup. You apply unscrewing force to the tool, and it transfers this force to the cup with this tight friction fit.
The tool consists of a large bolt, a nut or two, and a few washers. The size of the bolt is not particularly critical, as long as the bolt is strong enough not to break, but small enough to fit through the hole in the cup. I used to use an ordinary 1/2-inch, 13 tpi hex bolt (also called a "capscrew"), which served me well for quitea while. It finally met its match on afriend's Schwinn that had an unusually tight fixed cup; the bolt snapped in two before I could remove the cup.
Now I use a 5/8-inch 18 tpi hex bolt 1 1/2inches long, with a nut, a flat washer, and four lockwashers. The 5/8-inch size is the largest standard size that will fit through the hole in the cup. This bolt and nut both take a 5/16-inch wrench. With my 1/2 inch drive Craftsman six-point socket set, the 15/16-inch socket is also the largest size that will fit into a normal bottom bracket shell.
If you have some other brand of socket, check the fit before you buy the bolt and nut-you might need the next size down (9/16-inch).
Bolt as bottom-bracket cup tool
Home-made tool shown in cutaway bottom bracket cup.
Nut on the Outside
The bolt is put through the cup fromthe inside of the bottom bracket, and the nut screws onto it from the outside. There should be washers on both sides of the cup. You will need a socket wrench anda short extension to tighten the bolt from inside the bottom bracket, and a box wrench for the nut.
A large socket wrench will not fit into the cup, so you will need some small diameter washers to space the head ofthe bolt out so that the socket wrench can reach it. This is what I use the four split lockwashers for. I didn't need lock-washers as such, but the readily available flat washers were too large in outside diameter to fit into the cup.
To remove a right threaded fixed cup (French or Italian), tighten the bolt with the socket wrench from the inside of the bottom bracket, holding the nut with the box wrench. Once the bolt is as tight as can be, keep on tightening it, until the cup screws itself out. Once the cup starts to move, turn both wrenches together.
To remove a left threaded (British or Swiss) fixed cup, hold the bolt with the socket wrench and turn the nut with the box wrench.
Use the same tool the opposite way to install the new fixed cup.
You might worry about damaging the cup, but this is not likely to happen. The washer doesn't usually come into contact with the bearing surface. Even if it did, bearing cups are made of extraordinarily hard, heat-treated steel, much stronger than that used to make washers.
Thanks,
Warren Hall
Houston, TX
Pinarello Montello SLX, Woodrup and another Pinarello and Bianchi sans fixed cup!