I wanted to know, how do you overhaul sealed pedals?? Last night, I took apart my favourite pair on unsealed, took all the balls out, cleaned them, re-greased them, and put them back together (replacing the 8 smashed balls). But today, i’m lookng at my sealed pedals, and wondering, how the heck do i fix them?
-Ryan
Most sealed bearings require no maintenance unless you manage to get dirt or water into them. What you can do, however, is: using a small pointed object (such as a needle) pry the seal out.
This will expose the bearing and race assembly.
Clean any dirt and old grease from the bearing and repack it with fresh grease as you turn the bearing to work the grease in.
Snap the seal back in place and you’re done.
If you bend the seal while prying it out, be sure to gently bend it back into shape so that it doesn’t drag on the bearing surface.
If you can take apart and overhaul an unsealed pedal you will have no problem with a sealed pedal. Sealed pedals are easier to overhaul.
Generally with sealed pedals all you’ll need to do is put new grease on the spindle, make sure any o-rings are still good, and make sure it is all tight when you put it back together. If you’re riding in wet or dirty conditions you may have to regrease the spindle every month or two or three. It’s quick and easy to do.
If the cartridge bearings in a sealed pedal are bad you need to buy new bearings. Your local bike shop may have the bearings or you can go to a specialty bearing supply store. You can also usually order replacement bearings from the pedal manufacturer.
Check the bearing races on the sealed bearings. When they get loose and wobbly it is time to replace the bearing. If you let it go too long like that the bearing can completely come apart and that often results in the pedal body falling completely off the spindle while you’re riding.
Sealed pedals often use an o-ring to add a little spinning resistance to keep the pedal from free spinning when your foot is off the pedal. The o-ring is also there to help keep dirt and stuff out of the pedal. If your pedal is free spinning too much you can look for replacement o-rings. If they’re not standard o-rings that you can find at a hardware store then you’ll have to get replacements from the pedal manufacturer.
well, I tried all of the above, only to find, that all the little balls, that i think were supposed to be conceled within something, were floating around around the spindle(broken in half, or severely deformed) Also, the little round part were i think the balls were supposed to be, was smashed and grinded up. now, Is this repairable? or should i scrap the pedals. The pedals are the Wellgo B-37’s from MEC. Also i was wondering if there should be two sets of bearings on either end of the spindle, (like the unsealed pedals) or if there is just the one set of balls on the outer side of the pedals (all i found).
I really want to slavage these pedals because they’re nice, and have good grip, but as of now, they’re un-ridable.
Thanks alot,
-Ryan
Ahem…
Unseled is fine, i just need to know what to do with the sealed wellgos. But thanks anyways Brian.
-Ryan
my bearing FAQ shows me taking apart a main sealed bearing…are the pedal ones the same…just smaller?
I bet it’s the same principle
As long as the spindle is still straight and in good shape you should be able to salvage the pedal.
Most sealed pedals only have one cartridge bearing per pedal. The other end of the pedal spins on a bushing. Because one end of the pedal spins on a bushing it is important to keep the spindle greased. If the grease gets washed out of the pedal the bushing won’t spin well.
If you can get replacement cartridge bearings from your local bike shop or a local bearing supply store you should be set. The tricky part will be finding out what size bearings to get.
Are you sure these pedals are sealed rather than unsealed? Someone else on the forum mentioned that the Wellgo B37s they got from MEC were actually unsealed.
they’re definetly sealed. I think they charged 30$ for the unsealed version, and 50$ for the sealed version (the ones i got) I’ll check out thereplacement bearings. Thanks for your help
-Ryan