EggBeater Failure

In article ,
Zoot Katz wrote:
The pedals were purchased in October 2002 so Crank Bros. don't have to
honour the two year warranty though I'm hopeful they may offer a
solution. I do like the pedals and they always attract comments.

I think the original design of the Crank pedals had known problems with
the bearings. Crank changed the design to be more durable in the
second model year. I seem to recall upgrade kits being made available,
though it may be too late in your case. New Crank pedals can be had for
$50 now days (try Performance or Nashbar); that may be a better deal than
trying to repair yours.

Thu, 4 Aug 2005 22:15:31 +0000 (UTC), ,
(C) wrote:

I think the original design of the Crank pedals had known problems with
the bearings. Crank changed the design to be more durable in the
second model year. I seem to recall upgrade kits being made available,
though it may be too late in your case. New Crank pedals can be had for
$50 now days (try Performance or Nashbar); that may be a better deal than
trying to repair yours.

Ohh Great! I've three pairs of the originals and never heard anything
about upgrading them. I'll have to wait and see what Crank Bros. is
going to do.
--
zk

did your colarbone ever heal......???

"?" ?@?.? wrote in message
...
Same thing happended to me a few weeks back. The pedal body came off
the spindle. This set of egg beaters was only a few months old
(purchased Dec '04). It came off without warning. Luckily I was
peddling in the saddle at the time.

Prior to that, I owned another pair of eggbeaters. I used them for
about 2 years (when they 1st hit the market) without any problem. One
of these pedals was lost in a crash. My crank arm snapped and so did my
collerbone. The pedal and crank were left behind while I was carted off
by ambulance. Hence the needs for a new set of pedals..

Anyway, the crankbrothers customer service experience was excellent for
me. They shipped back to me the next day my repaired pedal as well as
another pedal (gratis) so I now have two pairs of pedals. Good stuff.

Some other comments a the original (stainless steel) model I have
required a 5mm hex wrench and had metal dust caps. The newer pair uses
8mm hex wrench (less desirable/convenient) and plastic dust caps, to
save weight I guess. The internal design for both looks the same as far
as I can tell.

On first thought, it is troubling to think that it's a tiny (5mm, IIRC)
retaining bolt that holds the pedal body to the spindle. Then again the
same was true for the (traditional, not eggbeater licensed) Look pedals
I rode for years without any problem. Chaulk it up to someone in the
factory not applying enough torque to my eggbeater pedal, I reckon.
C'est la vie!

This has happened to me with Shimano 737 pedals multiple times but I
used them five to six times a week for years. This also just happened
to me with the original EggBeaters but they sell rebuild kits for the
older models and once you get the brass bushing out of the body ( they
will do this for the cost of shipping it to them) it's pretty easy to
rebuild.

Zoot Katz wrote:

In this case the bearing itself came apart. The outer race and balls
are still in the pedal body. The inner race stayed on the spindle held
by that dinky lookin' screw and blue Locktite.

On mine it's a dinky lookin' nut with nylon insert. Comes out with a
spin-tite.

Pressing the remainder of the bearing out of the body is going to be a
challenge without the inner race.

It's not that tight of a fit. You probably will be able to get it out
by tapping the body on a workbench or prying it out with a chip lifter
(looks like a dinky crowbar - used for electronics).

The pedals were purchased in October 2002 so Crank Bros. don't have to
honour the two year warranty though I'm hopeful they may offer a
solution. I do like the pedals and they always attract comments.

They sell a rebuild kit, but in their warranty information, if you give
a good enough explanation of what happened, even out of warranty, they
may even ship you the rebuild kit gratis.

Tech tip: Don't bother with the grease fitting. Just unscrew the end
cap, unscrew the nut, pull the pedal off, wipe spindle clean, degrease
chemically or ultrasound the bearing, push grease into the bearing with
your thumb, use a swab to get grease on the bushing, and put some grease
on the spindle for good measure, slide the body back on with the
bearing, tighten nut, put dustcap back on. Done.

For a grease, I would recommend something water resistant, like Texaco
Starplex.

--
BMO

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In article , C wrote:
In article ,
Zoot Katz wrote:
The pedals were purchased in October 2002 so Crank Bros. don't have to
honour the two year warranty though I'm hopeful they may offer a
solution. I do like the pedals and they always attract comments.

I think the original design of the Crank pedals had known problems with
the bearings. Crank changed the design to be more durable in the
second model year. I seem to recall upgrade kits being made available,
though it may be too late in your case. New Crank pedals can be had for
$50 now days (try Performance or Nashbar); that may be a better deal than
trying to repair yours.


_ This same failure happen with my newer design candy's
yesterday. However, I noticed it before it totally slipped
off and rescrewing the dust cap back in at least keep the
pedal together for the final 10 miles of a century. I was
pretty cautious on those last ten miles though.

_ It makes me wonder if the dust cap is somehow invovled in
keeping the bearing in place. Could a loose dust cap cause
this failure? I was pretty surprised that the pedal was
still usable with the outboard bearing trashed and I have
no real idea why retightening the dust cap stopped the pedal
from slipping off the axle and removed the half inch of play
that was in the pedal.

_ Booker C. Bense

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Fri, 05 Aug 2005 19:20:40 -0400, 8uSIe.9411$MZ6.8622@lakeread01,
"Boyle M. Owl" responded, in part to my:

Pressing the remainder of the bearing out of the body is going to be a
challenge without the inner race.

It's not that tight of a fit. You probably will be able to get it out
by tapping the body on a workbench or prying it out with a chip lifter
(looks like a dinky crowbar - used for electronics).

With a screw driver, I was not successful in getting it out all the
way. It only raised it off the seat and my dental picks weren't strong
enough to fully pry it out. I finally bumped it out, from the inboard
side, using one leg of a Park Tool SPA-2 pin spanner.

The pedals were purchased in October 2002 so Crank Bros. don't have to
honour the two year warranty though I'm hopeful they may offer a
solution. I do like the pedals and they always attract comments.

They sell a rebuild kit, but in their warranty information, if you give
a good enough explanation of what happened, even out of warranty, they
may even ship you the rebuild kit gratis.

E-mail from Crank Brothers' customer service said they'd send me new
bearings on warranty. That seems a fair enough, though cheap, buy-out
of a potentially litigious situation presuming somebody got hurt due
to defects in their material or design.

One thing I noticed when first digging into the pedal were the metal
bits under the hollow rubber dust plug. I'm betting evidence of metal
bits could be taken as a precursor to imminent bearing failure.
Tonight I pulled the plugs of four other pedals and found no metallic
swarf on a magnet passed around inside the body. I think a regular
pedal inspection might be prudent whenever oiling the chain.
--
zk

In article ,
Zoot Katz wrote:

Fri, 05 Aug 2005 19:20:40 -0400, 8uSIe.9411$MZ6.8622@lakeread01,
"Boyle M. Owl" responded, in part to my:

Pressing the remainder of the bearing out of the body is going to be a
challenge without the inner race.

It's not that tight of a fit. You probably will be able to get it out
by tapping the body on a workbench or prying it out with a chip lifter
(looks like a dinky crowbar - used for electronics).

With a screw driver, I was not successful in getting it out all the
way. It only raised it off the seat and my dental picks weren't strong
enough to fully pry it out. I finally bumped it out, from the inboard
side, using one leg of a Park Tool SPA-2 pin spanner.

The pedals were purchased in October 2002 so Crank Bros. don't have to
honour the two year warranty though I'm hopeful they may offer a
solution. I do like the pedals and they always attract comments.

They sell a rebuild kit, but in their warranty information, if you give
a good enough explanation of what happened, even out of warranty, they
may even ship you the rebuild kit gratis.

E-mail from Crank Brothers' customer service said they'd send me new
bearings on warranty. That seems a fair enough, though cheap, buy-out
of a potentially litigious situation presuming somebody got hurt due
to defects in their material or design.

Sometimes a company gets bad equipment from their
supplier. No, they are no less liable, but perhaps less
culpable.

--
Michael Press