Are my clipless pedals knackered?

[wheres_my_beard]

I own some Crank Bros. Eggbeater C pedals. Normally this is a good thing. But mine may be screwed.

Yesterday I noticed that on my left pedal there was about 2mm of play in the body of the pedal on the spindle. Instead of just giving a good yank with a wrench to tighten, I first took the nut off and had a little look at the naked spindle and the inside of the pedal body, to satisfy my curiosity (as you do).

I then slid the body back on the spindle and started tightening the nut up, only turning the wrench about 1/2 a turn at a time, so as not to over do it, as the thread was very short. I didn't come against any real resistance, but the nut seemed to keep turning for a spooky number of turns.

Anyways, to cut a very long and no doubt dull story short, the nut is on, and will not actually tighten, or come back off. So, I am left with more play in the pedal, and a nut that won't budge!!

What should I do? These pedals are less than 6 months old.

 

[Fiona N]

I'm not sure I can help you just at the moment as I've not renovated eggbeaters only Candy and quattro pedals. But I'm a bit perplexed - did you slide the whole pedal body off the axle (which was still screwed into the crank)?

 

[Fiona N]

Oh dear, I just looked at the rebuild kit instructions - it seems that you do get a spare nut but it's not much good if the threads are stripped on the axle. A trip to your LBS might be in order.

 

[accountantpete]

I'd start by gently extracting the nut. Put the pedal in a vice, get a grip on the top of the axle and gently pull whilst unscrewing the nut.

You should feel it grip and then begin to unscrew.

 

[wheres_my_beard]

I'd start by gently extracting the nut. Put the pedal in a vice, get a grip on the top of the axle and gently pull whilst unscrewing the nut.

You should feel it grip and then begin to unscrew.

So, I should pull the pedal body to encourage the nut to bite on the presumably stripped thread?

 

[accountantpete]

Well it presumably is only stripped in one small section.

I did say "gently"!

 

[wheres_my_beard]

You did say gently, yes.


I'm going to have to replace the spindle though, right??

 

[accountantpete]

You did say gently, yes.


I'm going to have to replace the spindle though, right??

I don't know if you can get spares - it could be that a short section of thread is damaged and that threading it on correctly overcomes this. It's a bit of a long shot though.

 

[wheres_my_beard]

According the brief manual/ instructions that come with the pedals, that nut should be done up to 35Nm... is that alot??

I was using two fingers and a thumb to tease the nut around... maybe I don't know my own strength.

 

[accountantpete]

Have you been on the spinach???


35NM at a guess is something lile 50lbs of force on a 20cm lever - so quite a bit.

 

[Zoiders]

I am not one for slagging off products willy nilly but the problem is the brand of pedal.

I never bought egg beaters as everyone I know who has bought a pair has had them fall to bit's in a few thousand miles, to quote one chap I know they are "unspeakable tat made from cheese".

The internals simply aren't machined or cast from the right stuff to resist galling and fretting, sure the pedal looks pretty on the the outside but that's no good if they wear out.

If you want similar performance I would get some Time Attack pedals, yes they might be double sided and not four sided entry but the design is what egg beaters imitate anyway, if you removed the resin platform you would be left with something looking a hell of a lot like an egg beater.

 

[andrew_s]

If the pedal body moves laterally on the axle, a rebuild is required fairly quickly. If you ignore it, the pedal body will just slide off the end of the axle when the little cartridge bearing in the end comes apart. Riding back home whilst trying to press inwards with your foot to keep the pedal on the axle is a right pain.

Zoiders is right, though I reckon the problem is that the cartridge bearings are too small to be up to the job.
They are probably OK if you stick to the recommended servicing/rebuild intervals, but if you ride a lot that comes to a fair amount in rebuild kits. I ended getting 10 or so cartridge bearings from a bearing shop (£1.50 ea, iirc), and adding one to my on the bike toolkit, along with the required tools. I tried the Look 4x4 eggbeater clones, but they didn't last as long - the axle snapped sprinting into a roundabout, out of the saddle, on fixed.
I now use Time Atac.

 

[byegad]

Sounds like you've stripped the thread in which case it's probably not recoverable. I use CB Mallets, and have just bought some CB Candy for a new trike. The bearings do wear out and you can buy a rebuild kit specific to one or more model of CB pedals.

For some reason my left pedal always develops slack first.
So I bought a rebuild kit and replaced the bearings on the left pedal of a pair that had done just over 5000 miles. The trike has now covered over 6500 miles and the left is fine as is the unrebuilt right! On my other trike the left is starting to show some movement sideways. It has done nearly 5000 miles so I guess I'll be rebuilding that one soon!

 

[wheres_my_beard]

These pedals can't have done more than 600 miles; but those miles have been stop and start commuter miles.

I'm going to take them back to the shop i got them from, but I am very doubtful they will have anything useful to say.

Looks like my pedals might be taking a trip to Laguna Beach this summer, via RMA.

 

[Cubist]

Before you do, I had the same problem with mine, but no one has pointed out the little nut is nylock. It'll be the insert that's knackered. The sideways play is the cartridge bearing. Get a rebuild kit and change the bearings. The kit comes with new nut so will fix your problem.



Then ebay them and get some Time