Anybody have any problems with race face cranks working loose. Deus xc came fitted (2008 five) and they are either to tight against the bottom bracket or if the cranks spin freely, then they work loose. All the spacers and washers are in place. Was ready to launch the **** thing into a field today after they came loose and I didnt have an 8mm allen key.
Been looking at getting shimano slx, if I thought I could rely on them.

I had this with RF Prodigy cranks. Crank arm fell off on 2 different rides much to the amusement of the rest of the group. My LBS fitted a new bottom bracket and had no troubles after that.

Good luck!

Im on my 4th BB and the latest is a Hope and Iv had the same problem with them all.

RF external bb cranks need the bb shell to be very close on the width .25mm out either way. Get your lbs to measure as it sounds like it may be a fraction too wide.

RaceFace do have to be tightened up very tight but what I had done was remove the outer locking cap and then take out the one that actually tightens the crank onto the spindle. Then clean all the grease out of the spindle and screw and then apply a little stud lock. Put the crank arm on and then screw the cap on until it's nice and tight but still spins freely – making sure there's no play in the arms whatsoever!!! That's very very important. Then when the stud locks nice and dry, re-fit the self extracting locking cap back on and spin the cranks and they will be nice and smooth and all locked up solidly. Ride the bike and then re-check each ride to ensure it's all still tight and not working loose.
There must be a slight tolerance problem as my current 2010 cranks had to be treated like this when I fitted my new Enduro Zero Ceramic BB and it was very tight – not what I wanted after fitting a £140 BB!!! But I had this problem on the very first set of Deus XC cranks I had yet my next set went together perfectly. Try it and see how you go on – it's a bit of a fix but it should work. As for RF BB's they are utter shitte!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XT3nH0mxPCY

Cheers, Il try the thread lock first. Next step is new cranks I think.

You need to cure the problem at source,if you aren't tightening the crank fully then it's going to fall off. If you tighten the crank fully and it stiffens the BB then you need to have the BB faced back, i'd recommend facing it back to Race-Face's min. width of 72.75mm, we've had virtually no problems with these BB/chainsets since doing this to any that feel remotely stiff when being built.

Slightly different issue, I ve got a set of the Next carbon cranks. There's definate movement in the left one, almost like it clicks into place (rotational, not laterally if you see what I mean). Really noticable at first but goes away after about 20 mins riding. Always greased the splines very lightly and then threadlocked the bolt. The manual said you will feel a definate stop point when tightening and that it's pretty impossible to overtighten. Can certainly feel the stop point.

Have RF lost their reputation for reliability? What was wrong with sq taper? Never had an issue with it (whole can of worms asking the sq tpr question!)

Definate play after its reached the 'stop' point. Piece of Shiite. new slx cranks me thinks.

New slx cranks ordered from ribble. £55, bargain.

Bring back square taper!

Still (mostly) got it. 5 out of 6 bikes. Only ended up with those stupid RF Next things because the new-fangled BB shell in the posh bike is a press fir jobby. Not planning on changing any of the squares any time soon.

Actually, one is on it's third in 13 years and the other still on it's second in 1 years. Dead chuffed when I found an XTR UN91 square in Italian thread for the road bike. Rare as rocking horse manure. NOS too.