Pedal Service

Pedals are one of the most neglected parts of a bike, they do however need the occasional bit of TLC

Most people fit them, and then just forget about them as they are riding along giving no thought to the job the pedals are doing. Taking all that power, rotating along their bearings until something gives. They can last a fair while if cared for.

The pedals we are servicing here are Shimano PD-550, but these instructions will be suitable for most Shimano SPD-SL pedals

Tools required

• Good quality grease
• Shimano Pedal tool
• Pedal Wrench
• Plenty of rags, ‘‘tis a messy job this one
• A pointy object
• Possibly a small spanner if adjusting bearing play
• A wrench that fits the pedal tool

So, obviously you need to remove the pedals from the bike. Clean the crank threads while your here.

Now the pedals are off the bike, clean off the pedal bodies, and check for damage and play in the pedal. Now you’ll need to do one pedal at a time to avoid any confusion, so take one pedal and look at the locking collar and you’ll see the words tighten with an arrow. You’ll need to turn the collar opposite to the tighten direction. On a never serviced pedal, this’ll be really tight to turn because Shimano put LOADS of lock thread on the threads.

Now you’ll be able to pull the axle from the pedal body. Everything is on the axle. Shimano don’t do silliness like pressed bearings in the body. Clean off the axle and bearings, rotating each collar working the grease out. If your needing to adjust for play, do it now. We won’t go into that adjustment, but there’s plenty of YouTube videos on how todo it. Stuff a rag into the pedal body and use your pointy object to clean the axle housing.

Now, take your grease, and squeeze a healthy amount into the hole in the pedal body, fill it about half way.

Wipe off the axle to make sure it hasn’t picked up any crud from your workbench and insert it into the body. It might struggle to get back in with the new grease, just gently shove it until you can get the threads to engage.

Using the locking tool, turn in the direction of the tighten arrow on the collar. As your tightening it down, grease is forced up through the bearings and other gubbins on the axle exiting at the top of the collar. It might even fart a few times…

Clean up the leakage, and repeat on the next pedal, noting the threads will be opposite.

Remount the pedals back onto the cranks after greasing the threads. Note that a certain amount of leakage is normal for a few rides as the grease settles down. Also, the pedals will be slow to hang in the right orientation so you might miss a few clips as the grease works through. Apply a drop of lube to the flats and rear clip mechanism. Your good to go with you freshly serviced pedals.