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Eggbeater pedal-body overhaul

9556 Views 17 Replies 9 Participants Last post by CS2, Aug 23, 2010

hootsmon

Discussion Starter · Jan 2, 2010 (Edited)

5

Having just finished a pedal-body overhaul (ie. springs & O-rings) on my CB Eggbeater Ti pedals, I thought it might be helpful to share some pictures showing what's involved, since I've noticed there's hardly any information available on this topic.

As most CB owners will know, routine maintenance on Eggbeaters is a piece of cake, and in most cases, just cleaning-and-lubing is all that's needed to keep your pedals in great shape.

But on high-mileage pedals like mine, it turns that a little more is needed, since springs & O-rings simply don't get renewed by a regular CB service. It's pretty easy to diagnose worn springs an/or O-rings, since:

the bails lose tension, resulting in sloppy pedal engagement
consequently, the cleat simply 'falls' out of the pedal, and
grease tends to escape past the O-ring seals onto the pedal body exterior (clearly visible in pics 1&2),
needless to say, no amount of lube or rebuild-kits will ever remedy this!

Anyway, enough gas-bagging; here's the 'before' pics, in which there's about 10-15 degrees of 'slop' evident between pic 1 & 2...

Before & After pics of the spring...

Here's the disassembled pedal-body...

And finally, the re-built pedal...

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1 - 18 of 18 Posts

FishMan473

· #2 · Jan 2, 2010

Thanks for the info. So you bought new springs and o-rings from Crank Brothers then?

Seems there is remarkably little wear on the "wings" for the amount of wear on the springs. Can you see this wear while the pedals are still in one piece? My feet have been popping out of one pair of my cleats unexpectedly on one, but not my other pair of my eggbeaters. Do steel springs wear out as quickly as the Ti ones?

hootsmon

Discussion Starter · #3 · Jan 3, 2010 (Edited)

FishMan473 said:
Thanks for the info. So you bought new springs and o-rings from Crank Brothers then?

Well yes, albeit indirectly. Down here in Oz, CB won't deal with customers directly, so regular humans like me are forced to order parts via two tiers of middlemen. Consequently, spare-parts are horrendously expensive, plus you rarely receive the parts that you ordered; instead you get whatever the middleman happens to have in stock, or reckons you should get. Suffice it to say that buying brand-new pedals online would have been considerably cheaper, faster, and less hassle than going through the dealer channel. :madman:

But back to your question, I think those springs are probably only obtainable from CB themselves. However, regarding the O-rings, I worked out they're not any of the common sizes you'll find in DIY O-ring sets (I know, having been there & done that). But I happened to order a few spares, which you could easily run a micrometer over. So on that basis, there's every likelihood you could obtain something very close at (say) your local bearing supplier. I know my local CBC outlet stocks oodles of different O-ring sizes. Having said that, it would need to be a really close fit, since these mechanically hold the pedal-body in place (ie. they do a lot more than simply keeping contaminants out).

FishMan473 said:
Seems there is remarkably little wear on the "wings" for the amount of wear on the springs.

You're quite right; I guess most of my of kms are on-road. Also, I try to pick smooth lines that minimize risk of pedal-strike, plus my 29er has an insanely tall BB height to start with.

FishMan473 said:
Can you see this wear while the pedals are still in one piece?

Have a look at pics 1&2 (in my original post I mean). They are intended to show the excessive freeplay in the bails, that was my reason for rebuilding them.

FishMan473 said:
My feet have been popping out of one pair of my cleats unexpectedly on one, but not my other pair of my eggbeaters. Do steel springs wear out as quickly as the Ti ones?

What an excellent question! To be honest, I don't really know what material those springs are made out of. Nor what the different anodized colours mean (if indeed they mean anything). On that topic, I think it would be really useful if there were such a thing as an EggBeater parts-list (complete with part-numbers).

I just examined the worn springs, and I can say that whatever they're made of, it feels pretty lightweight! Also, it sticks to a magnet, which tells me it's NOT Titanium. So on that basis, I'm guessing they're most likely spring-steel of some sort?

Finally, based on your description, I reckon there's every chance your Eggie springs might be more-or-less reuseable; So I'm suggesting that just replacing O-rings alone could posssibly fixup your pedals (but I'm no expert).

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LCW

· #4 · Jul 22, 2010

My EB's are leaking grease... did you get replacement O-rings from CB?

Their rebuild kit doesn't include the O-rings.

cheers

hootsmon

Discussion Starter · #5 · Jul 25, 2010 (Edited)

4

LCW said:
My EB's are leaking grease...

That's a pretty good indication the O-rings are either worn-out or not fitting right.

LCW said:
did you get replacement O-rings from CB?

Yes but (very) indirectly, since CB refuses to deal with overseas customers. In fact, getting replacement O-rings thru my LBS was such a harrowing ordeal that I eventually ordered 12 (i.e. a lifetime supply) just so I'll never have to go through that experience again. So if you're genuinely snookered trying to obtain some, then I'd cheerfully mail you a set

LCW said:
Their rebuild kit doesn't include the O-rings.

That is correct, and I cannot understand why, because I'm guessing those O-rings are probably only about 20c apiece wholesale, yet they're a relatively high-wear item that's essential for a proper pedal rebuild IMHO.

Anyway, I haven't actually tried sourcing those O-rings locally. But in case anybody else feels inclined to do so, I just took these measurements on the genuine CB O-ring.

Of course, you'll need a set 4 of these O-rings this size to do a rebuild.
Also, it's worth noting that all 4 O-rings are identically sized (when new), but from memory I think that once installed, the inner ones get stretched just fractionally more than the outers. So don't stress if you notice that the used O-rings are slightly different in size.

[Edit 22-Aug-2010] With 20/20 hindsight, I found my ID and CS measurements were a little inaccurate. Therefore, please refer here instead.

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kroe

· #6 · Jul 25, 2010

Great write up.

Can you tell us how you reassembled the pedals? I have rebuilt these before, but find it very hard to get the sleeves into the pedal body without pinching the o-rings. There must be a trick to this...

hootsmon

Discussion Starter · #7 · Jul 26, 2010 (Edited)

kroe said:
Great write up.

Thanks

kroe said:
Can you tell us how you reassembled the pedals? I have rebuilt these before, but find it very hard to get the sleeves into the pedal body without pinching the o-rings. There must be a trick to this...

Dunno if this is a trick exactly, but I did discover that auto rubber-grease works nicely for lubing the O-rings, prior to assembly.
Aside from that, I recall that reassembly feels a lot like solving those puzzle-ring thingies!
And by taking a slow and methodical approach, I found the pedals went together alright, with only a couple of false starts.
So patience definitely helps, plus there was no need to use force.

The truth is my eggies have been flawless since their last rebuild, so I'm in no hurry to tear them down again.

However I'm definitely planning to take more pictures, the next time they get overhauled!

lytleric

· #8 · Jul 26, 2010

Nice write-up

I had been having the same issue with my 2Ti eggbeaters - lots of play in the pedals. I thought it might be due to worn cleats, but after installing new cleats, the problem was still there. So I sent them off to Crank Brothers and they are replacing the springs under the warranty. Still waiting to get them back.

hootsmon

Discussion Starter · #9 · Aug 8, 2010 (Edited)

8

More pictures

Today I did a quick pedal-body overhaul on the eggbeaters. Actually these were in pretty good shape, aside from one mangled O-ring (the inboard one). To be clear, the spindle bearings & grease-seal were in good nick, so I left those bits alone. So here's some photos....

Step 1: Fit the outer O-ring first

Step 2: A quick mock-up

Step 3: Now fit the inner O-ring

Step 4: Carefully insert the bushing, using an allen-key or similar to push it in

Step 5: Now the bushing is fully home, ready for the bearing-race to go in

Step 6: Pedal body is assembled; note my 4x Imperial-size 112 O-rings

Step 7: The finished pedal

[Edit 12-Aug-2010] Clarification

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dukenz

· #10 · Aug 11, 2010

I rebuilt mine tonight (before I read your guide) but followed essentially the same process. It is straight forward if you look at what you are doing and take it easy.

Couple of suggestions:
1. take a photo of our pedals before you disassemble - that way you have a guide to how they should look

2. you may run the risk of tearing that second o ring (on the narrower end of the bush) if you mount it on the main bush then push it though the spring and ends of the pedals. I found you can install it after you have pushed the bush all the way through and the bush is all the way home. Put a little grease on the O ring and then put it generally in place (inboard end opening of the pedal). You can then push it gently into place with a socket (8mm for me) that fits down the inboard end of the pedal. A little twist of the socket helps seat it. Finish it off by pushing it all the way into place with a fine screw driver.

Cheers
d

hootsmon

Discussion Starter · #11 · Aug 11, 2010

dukenz said:
2. you may run the risk of tearing that second o ring (on the narrower end of the bush) if you mount it on the main bush then push it though the spring and ends of the pedals. I found you can install it after you have pushed the bush all the way through and the bush is all the way home. Put a little grease on the O ring and then put it generally in place (inboard end opening of the pedal). You can then push it gently into place with a socket (8mm for me) that fits down the inboard end of the pedal. A little twist of the socket helps seat it. Finish it off by pushing it all the way into place with a fine screw driver.

Awesome! As it happens I did mangle that 2nd (inboard) O-ring, exactly as you said.
So I'll definitely be using your technique next time. Thanks.

CX'01

· #12 · Aug 15, 2010

o-ring dimensions...

thanks for the write-up! i'm happened to be in the middle of the same process. i found some more info here.

curiously, this guy suggests that the inner and outer o-rings have different dimensions, but he also seems to have a slightly different model... do you happen to know which o-ring is shown measured in your photos above? thanks

hootsmon

Discussion Starter · #13 · Aug 15, 2010

CX'01 said:
thanks for the write-up! i'm happened to be in the middle of the same process. i found some more info here.

curiously, this guy suggests that the inner and outer o-rings have different dimensions, but he also seems to have a slightly different model... do you happen to know which o-ring is shown measured in your photos above? thanks

Nice find! It's surprisingly hard to find good info about DIY Eggbeater servicing, but Ben's page is really useful, and well explained. Actually I did stumble across this some time back, but unfortunately I lost the link. So thanks for that.

Regarding the O-ring sizes, my LBS assured me that CB only stock one O-ring size, that fits both inboard and outboard both ends of the Eggbeater bushing (ie. one-size-fits-all). But as several people have noted, the groove dimensions are indeed slightly different. So I'm not entirely sure their information was correct. Ahh, life would be so much simpler if CB would just publish an illustrated parts-list, complete with part-numbers. :madman:

willtsmith_nwi

· #14 · Aug 18, 2010

hootsmon said:
Suffice it to say that buying brand-new pedals online would have been considerably cheaper, faster, and less hassle than going through the dealer channel. :madman:
.

I the long term buying new pedals OTHER THAN CRANK BROTHERS would be considerably less expensive.

dukenz

· #15 · Aug 18, 2010

willtsmith_nwi said:
I the long term buying new pedals OTHER THAN CRANK BROTHERS would be considerably less expensive.

Actually I have to disagree, these are the cheapest pedals I have owned in my 19 years of my mountain biking. This is the first time I have had to service the Eggbeaters in the 7 years I have been riding them (other than than post ride bike wash and the odd lube squirt).

hootsmon

Discussion Starter · #16 · Aug 18, 2010 (Edited)

Just clarifying...

To be clear, my previous dummy-spit was not directed against CB pedals or value-for-money per se. Rather, I was drawing attention to what I claim is excessive price-gouging for spares, by CB's overseas dealer-channel, particularly here in Oz (and I'm assuming other non-USA markets as well). But I've never had a problem with CB's technical support, nor indeed with domestic parts support (when visiting US I mean). It's just the overseas support that's lacking.

So I sincerely apologize for not making myself sufficiently clear. In fact, my knees love Eggie pedals so much I'm planning to get another set for next build.

hootsmon

Discussion Starter · #17 · Aug 22, 2010 (Edited)

Revised O-ring specs

The mystery's solved; Metric-size 9x1mm O-rings fit the '03 Eggbeater pedal-body perfectly :thumbsup: .

I sorta guessed there had to be an easier way, so yesterday I trotted down my local seal supplier (no, that sort of seal!)

Well, those guys know everything about O-rings, so identifying the correct part was a piece of cake. What's more, these O-rings are cheap as chips, plus I'd assume they're widely available as well. Which probably explains why none come with a Rebuild Kit?

Naturally I've already rebuilt both Eggies (even though they certainly didn't need it), just to check dimensions, and everything was tickety-boo. I gotta say with practice, the process becomes pretty easy. [Edit 23-08-2010] Just gave 'em a smoke-test on Mt Cootha trails; all good.

Here's my O-ring specs:

Pedal: '03 Eggbeater
O-ring: 9x1mm Metric (Nitrile 70)
Quantity: 2 per pedal

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Reactions: 1

CS2

· #18 · Aug 23, 2010

I wish there were more DIY threads here.

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