Cycling UK Forum

That's a shame.

If anyone has a dead left pedal but an OK right, let me know !

( 25 years ago I lapped back in the cup on a deore xt front hub that had light pitting. I used valve grinding paste in place of grease, the old slightly pitted cone, a set of new bearings and a drill. Sounds like I was lucky with the depth of the pitting. It's still running fine...doing a good few thousand miles of heavy touring in the first 7 years....but subsequently a spare wheel that is only occasionally used)

Hi,
I think pedals are a royal PITA to adjust.
99% of the time you just adjust them with trial and error until they are correct.
If you don't have old-fashioned clips on the pedals then you just need to hang a light weight on the pedal so the pedal orientates in one position, on the bike.
If you turn the cranks slowly there should be no Jerking of motion.
Similarly if you spin the pedal by hand when it stops it should be perfectly too-ing and fro-ing of motion, Stopping smoothly with no steps jerking

As said pitting means that it has worn through the case hardening.
So you would just use them as hack parts, Gritty is no good they have to be smooth, as smooth as you can get them and probably marginally loose using the test above.

A marginally loose pedal bearing it is not gonna affect your performance any.
But a slightly gritty one will mean placing foot on the pedal becomes a bit more difficult especially if you have toe clips.

Despite my best efforts I have managed to damage one of my new pedals on my road bike, I must've adjusted the bearing very slightly too tight without realising it. Shimano.
I've moved over to MKS pedals because I was tired of readjusting my cheaper Wellgo ones, Which required adjustment virtually every month!

When I made a move to MKS pedals, I purchased some secondhand ones 1st to see if they would be what I wanted.
I've since brought some new ones but yet to use them, the used ones are on my bike and one pedal is perfect not needing adjustment, the other is almost impossible to get right and needs slight adjustment periodically.
I don't remember stripping the pedals, but they were not gritty when they got them they seemed smooth enough, I probably adjusted them marginally.
The pedal given problem must have a problem somewhere although MKS pedals normally have very good bearings.

Only patience wins through in the end.
Well mostly.

With Shimano SPDs I have always avoided adjustment where none was needed. When they have been rotating fine, with just the slight drag that the viscosity of plenty of grease causes, I have resisted any temptation to play with the bearing adjustment. All I have done is repack with new grease once a year, at most, and I can't remember any becoming too tight or slack. And none have felt less than smooth. Adjustment is a last resort, when you know it is needed.

Hi,
Like wheels, most pedals come badly adjusted from new?

Well, dodgy pedal is set as best I can and now on the hack......but accepted as near term 'toast'.

In replacement, I've just serviced some Shimano PD-545's with the cartridge system. Not ideal for my fairly rare unclipped use, but so much more service friendly. No special tools required (and could be done mid long tour if necessary). As bearings were smooth, just added fresh grease. Watching the old grease purge out was a very pleasing 'mindfulness' moment ! Slight play on one side removed. You still have the judgement call about when too tight and when too loose, but much easier to set than the PD-M324's

With the PD-M324's, if a lock nut works loose on tour ( as indeed one did), you either need to have the tool with you or run the lottery that any LBS has it. Finding the 3/32" balls can also be a problem. As I'm trying to avoid buying new stuff ( to save the world single-handedly), I'll probably look out to see if I can find a second hand set with on ok right pedal .......but will I ever take them on a tour again ??

NATURAL ANKLING wrote: ↑8 Jun 2022, 3:28pm Hi,
Like wheels, most pedals come badly adjusted from new?

When is a pedal bearing too tight? That is a question I have asked myself as I have turned a new pair to see how freely or otherwise they rotate on the axle. But I don't expect a new pair, fresh out of the box, to spin as freely as they will after a few hundred miles of use. I expect a little bit of viscosity in there, but not binding. I think I get that judgement right because I've never had a Shimano pedal bearing go pitted or fail in any other way, despite me not fiddling with bearings when I think they will loosen nicely with use. By and large, just bunging in new grease periodically has served me well. It is wear to the bindings of SPDs that makes me reluctantly retire them eventually, with the bearings still running nicely.

hoogerbooger wrote: ↑7 Jun 2022, 7:57pm That's a shame.

If anyone has a dead left pedal but an OK right, let me know !

( 25 years ago I lapped back in the cup on a deore xt front hub that had light pitting. I used valve grinding paste in place of grease, the old slightly pitted cone, a set of new bearings and a drill. Sounds like I was lucky with the depth of the pitting. It's still running fine...doing a good few thousand miles of heavy touring in the first 7 years....but subsequently a spare wheel that is only occasionally used)

Um.. I've taken a set of pedals off the bike I purchased from Crossy. I like flat pedals, so I unscrewed these clippless ones and stuck them in a safe place... trouble is I remember they're on a safe place.. but no sure where...
When I find them I'll send a photo so you can check they're the right ones

Thank you for considering. If you do find them, they are M324's and the right pedal runs smooth without play, PM me.

If you need pedals I’ve just listed M324 pedals for sale.

hoogerbooger wrote: ↑7 Jun 2022, 7:57pm That's a shame.

If anyone has a dead left pedal but an OK right, let me know !

( 25 years ago I lapped back in the cup on a deore xt front hub that had light pitting. I used valve grinding paste in place of grease, the old slightly pitted cone, a set of new bearings and a drill. Sounds like I was lucky with the depth of the pitting. It's still running fine...doing a good few thousand miles of heavy touring in the first 7 years....but subsequently a spare wheel that is only occasionally used)

Well I had a similar issue with the PD-M324 hoogerbooger and at the time this forum (inc Brucey)advised me to just rebuild it. I did that and so far its been fine.

See this thread for pics and historic advice viewtopic.php?t=135824

EDIT: hoogerbooger you put some helpful contributions to that thread yourself

Well the pitting on yours..Zenitb...looks worse than mine. Done many miles on them ?

I've seen some debate elsewhere [not specific to these pedal bearings] on the depth of case hardening and whether lapping-in would actually go through it to the softer metal below. However like you I'll just see how it goes on the hack. I presume some play will develop and I'll have to reset. I guess this may settle if it doesn't go through the case hardening.....and if it does....then the tracks get deeper and drag increases .......and at some point becomes too draggy to use sensibly.

Hi,
I decided to sort out my right hand pedal on my "NEW MKS LITE".
On dismantling it I found this - The rest of the parts were perfectly okay including all the balls.
as I was out on a ride straight after I decided to re-grease and put back together.
I brought these pedals secondhand originally for about a third of the original price, To try out.
I've since bought two more new pairs at a knockdown price.
Unfortunately when I put the pedal back together and managed to strip the adjusting lock nut!
It looks like it's M7, Well it's made in Japan so its likely to be metric.
I got some seven mil bolt somewhere that came out of some stems, and some others out of my car Crankshaft seal cover plate.
But no nuts.

Went inside to look for some more pedals and found a box with some another pair of secondhand ones
The right-hand pedal seems a bit dry so I put some oil and grease in the end cup as a temporary measure.
I'll see in the instructions it says don't use oil, otherwise it might leak.

This right-hand pedal is also very marginally loose on the bearings, but I decided not to tempt fate.
On inspection of a new pair I found both of the pedals out of the box had marginally tight bearings, Brucey always recommended to re-adjust wheel bearings so they were not tight in the slightest, as when you put them on a bike they will tighten with the QR clamp.

I have always adjusted my wheel bearings with that in mind for some years now.
I'm not gonna start putting on new pedals with tight bearings.

I've just had a look in some boxes of new Shimano pedals and the bearings seem perfect out of the box.
The MKS new pedals are not so.
Probably what has resulted in the damage in my pic.

Bruceys Only exception was free hub bearings.
That's because you're free hub bearings only work when you're free wheeling if you do that much at all, and the course there is almost zero loads when you're free wheeling.
On free hubs Zero clear clearance means minimum fretting.

Hi,

NATURAL ANKLING wrote: ↑8 Jun 2022, 3:28pm Hi,
Like wheels, most pedals come badly adjusted from new?

Obviously since I've written this I've changed my mind