Fiona N
Veteran
A while ago, I posted about the problems I was having getting a seized pedal off the cranks. I was wanting to service the pedals properly as I'd got a rebuild kit and they hadn't had a good regrease for a year or more.
Well I eventually did get the pedal off (and I won't ever forget to renew the grease on the threads when refitting..
). It had gone through a stage of squeaking which sort of alerted me to the fact I hadn't been keeping up to the maintenance. Mind you, the pedals are Crank Brothers and pretty bomb-proof but still it was time...
Well last night I stripped the good pedal (the no problems and not seized one) and replaced the various seals, bearings and bushings with no problems - it's like new.
Then onto the bad one - oh my goodness. Gunk spewed forth
Black crud in place of the inner seal and the axle was corroded (this was stainless steel - some provocation needed) where it sat in the bushing. I cleaned up all the bits and it was actually less bad than it looked - the black crud was clearly the mashed up remains of the seal mixed with oxidation products. And the bearing side was fine with intact bearings in reasonable condition.
But the interesting thing is that it won't go back together. The new bushing is too tight for the axle which has a thin layer (but thicker than it should be) of very high density, slightly polished corrosion products which means that it's just sufficiently over-diameter to fit the bushing (without exerting brute force). The old bushing is worn to transparency - it's clear what the squeaking was
So I'm going to have to sand off the oxide carefully, smooth the surface and see whether that works - it seems an awful shame to chuck the pedal and I'm not sure there are replacement axles available.
How did I let things slip so badly
Well I eventually did get the pedal off (and I won't ever forget to renew the grease on the threads when refitting..
). It had gone through a stage of squeaking which sort of alerted me to the fact I hadn't been keeping up to the maintenance. Mind you, the pedals are Crank Brothers and pretty bomb-proof but still it was time...Well last night I stripped the good pedal (the no problems and not seized one) and replaced the various seals, bearings and bushings with no problems - it's like new.
Then onto the bad one - oh my goodness. Gunk spewed forth
Black crud in place of the inner seal and the axle was corroded (this was stainless steel - some provocation needed) where it sat in the bushing. I cleaned up all the bits and it was actually less bad than it looked - the black crud was clearly the mashed up remains of the seal mixed with oxidation products. And the bearing side was fine with intact bearings in reasonable condition. But the interesting thing is that it won't go back together. The new bushing is too tight for the axle which has a thin layer (but thicker than it should be) of very high density, slightly polished corrosion products which means that it's just sufficiently over-diameter to fit the bushing (without exerting brute force). The old bushing is worn to transparency - it's clear what the squeaking was
So I'm going to have to sand off the oxide carefully, smooth the surface and see whether that works - it seems an awful shame to chuck the pedal and I'm not sure there are replacement axles available.
How did I let things slip so badly
