Sunday 17 August 2008

TUTORIAL: Pedal Servicing (Loose Bearing)

I'm pretty cheap about some things. Pedals for instnace. I would love a set of Shimano DX flats, but can't be bothered to splash out £50 for them. So insted I stick to my £10 wellgo flats. These are copies of the famous DMR V8 and work like a charm if you keep on top of the maintinance. Just thought i'd share with you the secret of cheap, long-lasting pedals.

COMPULSORY TOOLS
12mm Socket
15mm Socket
15mm open-ended spanner.
Small, flat screw-driver.
Replacement ball bearings
Grease (preferably water-repelant white lithium)
Tissues/old rags

PREFERABLE TOOLS
Work Bench
Bench vice
Degreaser
Pedal Spanner
Grease gun
Needle-nose pliars
Copper grease

Remove the pedal from the crank with an open-ended 15mm spanner or pedal spanner. Dont forget that the drive-side pedal has a reverse thread.

Pop the plastic cap of the outboard side of the pedal.

Place the pedal in a vice or use a spanner to hold the parallels on the in-board side of the axel.

Using a 12mm socket and ratchet handle/small breaker bar (etc) undo the outside locknut.

Using either a pair of needle-nose pliers or some screw drivers take off the washer that separates the locknuts. (This is important as it is designed not to spin and therefore to hold the inside locknut in place.)

Using a 15mm socket, undo the inner locknut/bearing cone and remove. (You should not need a handle for this - just finger pressure on the socket should be ample.)

Lift the pedal body off the axel.

Remove the plasic seal from the in-board side of the pedal body. (This will make it easier to extract and re-install bearings.)

Remove the old bearings gently with a screw driver. Measure for size and then disguard.

Using old rags and degreaser, clean the pedal body, axel and cone. Then dry it thorougherly with tissue. (The in-board bearing race is likely to be much more dirty than the out-board side.) Check the races for any piting, cracking or any damage whatsoever. If they are damaged it is likely that this is due to infrequent servicing or running the pedals too loose. The pedals will probabbly never spin to an optimal standard again.

Put the axel back in the vice.

Apply grease to the cups of the pedal body on both sides.

Install new ball bearings to the in-board side of the pedal body using the viscousity of the grease to hold them in place. Put some grease on the tops of the bearings, re-seat the in-board plasic seal and place the pedal body carefully onto the axel in the vice ensuring not to knock any bearings out of position. (My pedals took 11 5/32" bearings per race.)

Place new bearings into the out-board race and apply a small ammount of grease to the tops of these bearings. (A grease gun could be handy for this.)

Re-install the cone/inner-locknut with a 15mm socket doing it finger tight. Then UNDO the cone/inner-locknut by 1/4 to 1/8 of a turn. (Trust me, it will be too tight otherwise. You may have to play to get it right, but bear in mind that the bearings will feel a little tight and gritty to start with depending on how worn your races are.)

Re-install the washer to separate the locknuts. (It should only go on one way to prevent twisting of the locknuts.)

Re-install the outer-locknut. Do it up with a ratchet handle/small breaker bar to an ammount I would call, fairly tight. (Guess around 20Nm.)

Remove the pedal from the vice and check it for play and stiffness. If either of these symotms occur then experiment with different tightnesses of the cone/inner-locknut. If stiffness persists it is possible your races are damaged. Assess the cups and cones for piting, cracking or any damage.

Re install the plasic cap to the outboard side of the pedal body.

Apply a small ammount of grease (preferably copper-based) to the threads where the pedal interfaces with the crank (making sure these threads are clean and dry first) and re-install the pedal. Remember the reverse-thread on the drive-side (re-install by back-pedaling).


Thanks to Olly Roberts - bodge-tastic.




WHAT I'M LISTENING TO:

Los Campesinos - Don't Tell Me To Do The Math(s)
Craig Armstrong - Rise
Sébastien Tellier - La Ritournelle
Luxembourg - What the Housewives don't Tell You
Rilo Kiley - Breakin' Up