Truvativ Fireex Cranks coming loose

[jdydula]

I have been riding on the Truvativ Fire Ex cranks for 7 months now and they have come loose twice. The LBS mechanic has tried applying some type of thread dope, which helps for about a month. They are trying say that this is normal and I need to upgrade to something like the shimano LX or XT. Has anyone had problems with these cranks or are there any issues like recalls or known defects??? It would be nice to know if there are issues before I throw away that hard earned cash!!

[blahwtf?]

this is normal, i have to retorqe within two rides after every service, but after, it seems to hold up fine. if you have a 73mm bracket, you shouldnt use any spacers. the self extracting outer nut works like a locknut.

[MichauxYeti]

I wouldn't call it normal, exactly, but it's usually a good idea to go over your bike every couple of rides and make sure everything is properly torqued.

Do you have the newer FireX crankset with a GXP (external bearing) bottom bracket?

[jdydula]

After two rides to me is not acceptable. I only noticed this issue after about 6 months. Maybe I'm just asking for too much, but the three piece profile cranks I ran on my GT performer from the 80's never had and issue and I rode the heck out of it on the ramps and dirt jumps when I was a teen. I would expect the technology to be as good if not better in today's age. Thanks for the info though. I think I'll still be going into my LBS and asking for a fix or something that's comparable to the Fireex.

[redwarrior]

Your LBS is full of it, it's not normal. I'm running an 06 Firex crankset with GXP outboard bearings and have never has them come loose unless I loosened them. I would get an 8MM allen wrench and torque that bolt down for all your worth and I bet it won't come loose.

[Prophet Julio]

I have the same cranks on my Prophet, and I only need to re-torque after a ride after I have removed them and re-installed. But then they are fine for months on end.

Put some serious muscle into it and you should be fine.

[blahwtf?]

i should mention, ive only serviced my bb twice, and 2 times, once after installation, and once after the 1st service, after tightening them with a torque wrench, they loosened up, like a square taper sometimes does, both times they also lasted for 3 months tight after i used a 1/4" ratchet, with a 8mm head on it to crank it that 1/8 turn further. i then re-tightened the lock/self extractor, i now have 2 rides on it since its 2nd service, and its not loosened up yet, but i didnt use the torque wrench this time. i went straight to the 1/4" ratchet. if you used a 3/8" ratchet it'd probably be too tight.

my torque wrench might be a bit off but i went to 39ft/lb. 3 turns from the lowest setting of 30. i just rechecked them again and it took about 2mm of turning to get it back to tight enough by feel.

[Prophet Julio]

I use a straight Allen on the crank and I crank it hard. I think that it would be hard to over tighten something that you stand on. Crank it. The torque wrench is not needed for this.

[CdaleProph6]

Replace it with a Raceface crank or an SLX or XT.....

truvativ stuff sucks working in a shop I have heard some horror stories about Bottom brackets basically exploding inside the shell. happened to my friend and he had to send his frame to Truvativ to get them to fix it...the BB was brand new

but bottom line is Truvativ sucks

[L4NE4]

Replace it with a Raceface crank or an SLX or XT.....

truvativ stuff sucks working in a shop I have heard some horror stories about Bottom brackets basically exploding inside the shell. happened to my friend and he had to send his frame to Truvativ to get them to fix it...the BB was brand new

but bottom line is Truvativ sucks

BS

I run the FireX single ring with outboard bearings. After installation (no torque wrench) they have never come loose, its been over a year now.

I also work at a shop.

[JGL]

I had the same problem. I was riding my relatively new bike (100 miles on it, maybe) at Gooseberry Mesa and the Firex GXP non-drive crank arm fell off. With a CroMo spindle and aluminum crank arm, damage ensued. The arm and nut (also aluminium) were damaged. After that, I would need to stop and tighten every couple of miles.

With some effort (they claimed it was my fault for not tightening before each ride), I finally persuaded the LBS to try to get it warranteed from SRAM. SRAM promptly sent a new Stylo arm (they were out of Firex). No problems since.