New XT/XTR pedal "special tool"

[Andymann]

I'm a pretty handy mechanic, so I was suitably embarrassed when I ended up with this problem when stripping my bike a few weeks back to get ready for my trip down to Cape Town - especially since I am religious about using copperslip grease in the threads. I wasn't concentrating, and the allen key slipped, cracking the end of the pedal. Of course there was no way then the pedal was going to come loose, so I had to carefully strip both the pedal and crank and put the pedal shaft in the vice, and turn off the crank-arm. What I then noticed, is that the new XT (and XTR pedals i have found), have a hollow bored into the shaft (saving a whopping 4g - I weighed them!), and the old XT pedal shaft I had as a spare, did not. The old XT pedal shaft also has about a mm more "purchase" on the inside of the hex, so the Allen Key will not slip out as easily as it does on the new XT shaft. (I also noticed the shafts are a slightly different colour - the old XT being more silver than the new yellowish hue of the new XT pedal - I suspect maybe a different heat treatment to allow for the hollowed-out shaft). Anyway to cut a long story short, I had to rebuild the new XT pedal with an old shaft and have subsequently made myself a special type of Allen Key - thought I would post the pics thereof, in case it might save some of you a few headaches!

 

 

[Andymann]

The Allen-Key was a bit more tricky as I had to set it up in a four-jaw chuck, but in the end it worked out fine!

 

 

[Behan]

Good job!! I had to throw away pedal once when the allen-key slipped and stripped the pedal... so props for sorting out the problem on your own!!

Edited May 22, 2013 by King--piN

[Andymann]

Luckily I have access to a lathe and a bunch of willing Apprentices!

[Johan Bornman]

NIce fix, but how on earth did you get an allen key in the chuck to turn it down?

[Swart Kat]

Ok, so while stripping the XTR pedal, did u notice that white rubber thingie that is supposed to do the job of an bearing? Its my third set of pedals, but get loose at the crank end of the shaft! Service kit almost as costly as new pedals! Isnt there a way of making teflon or nylon bushes for that end thus making the pedal lasting longer?

[Swart Kat]

Part 1, still dirty! And what is the job of part 2?

[Danger Dassie]

But how tight are the pedals being tightened?

[Andymann]

NIce fix, but how on earth did you get an allen key in the chuck to turn it down?

 

Set it up on a 4-jaw chuck - it took some time, and you have to grind it, not turn, because the damn thing is so hard. It took a while!

[Andymann]

Ok, so while stripping the XTR pedal, did u notice that white rubber thingie that is supposed to do the job of an bearing? Its my third set of pedals, but get loose at the crank end of the shaft! Service kit almost as costly as new pedals! Isnt there a way of making teflon or nylon bushes for that end thus making the pedal lasting longer?

 

The reason i scrapped the old type XT pedals was because of the clearance between the shaft and the teflon bush. So yup, that does wear - especially because the excuse for a seal/o-ring in the aluminium sleeve which holds the pedal body on the shaft isn't very effective IMO. I'm going to see if I can turn some new bushes. But getting them into the Aluminium sleeve isn't going to be easy....

[Andymann]

But how tight are the pedals being tightened?

 

I use an Allen key, and then a 100mm Tube for a bit of leverage - finger tight, and probably about a 5-10degree angle of turn to tighten. I err on the side of too loose mostly. What I think happened here was that my bike had just been to my LBS for it's first service, and they might have noticed the pedals weren't too tight. When this one didn't come off with the usual Allen key and tube method, I went and fetched a longer tube for more leverage, and then the damn thing slipped....

[RexFuzzle]

Something that also helps with stuck things like this is a hammer... serious... If you are able to hit the allen key to provide a shock to the offending tight item it often does the trick and the shock has less chance of stripping it. I've found the hard way that when you get a bar and pull for all you're worth is the time it strips.

Kudos on the allen key though... i have a few similar custom tools for my silly french car.

[Andymann]

Part 1, still dirty! And what is the job of part 2?

 

My guess is that part two is a bush which offers some support to the pedal platform, so that the bending moment on the platform is not all centered on the very small balls in the bearing. But I'm not a pedal expert!

[Andymann]

Something that also helps with stuck things like this is a hammer... serious... If you are able to hit the allen key to provide a shock to the offending tight item it often does the trick and the shock has less chance of stripping it. I've found the hard way that when you get a bar and pull for all you're worth is the time it strips.

Kudos on the allen key though... i have a few similar custom tools for my silly french car.

 

I actually restore old British classic bikes, so unique methods of loosening rusted bolts are well known! My Dad actually was around for a beer that night, and he was quite keen to take a heating torch to my new XT crank-arm. Needless to say he was dispatched back to the lounge pretty sharply!

[Guest Kalahari ou]

You guys have got some serious skills... I just realised again how little I know!

[RexFuzzle]

I actually restore old British classic bikes, so unique methods of loosening rusted bolts are well known! My Dad actually was around for a beer that night, and he was quite keen to take a heating torch to my new XT crank-arm. Needless to say he was dispatched back to the lounge pretty sharply!

Haha, I've had similar occurrences with my dad.

So you swear by the copper slip grease stuff? I've never used it my self, but have hear many people talk about it. I use some stuff called pinky's- which is silver assembly grease and really like that...