Title says it. Here’s a short clip. Long story short I discovered the XT SPD pedals I’ve been using for thousands of miles are counterfeit. Now I’m scrutinizing them. The axle spins smoothly, no side to side play, but I noticed there is a bit of vertical play. Is that normal?
I did disassemble them and clean them, and the body cup and cone/bearings are smooth as can be with zero play on the axle. It’s only when assembled that there is vertical play on the axle and lock bush interface.
Is any vertical axle play on SPD pedals acceptable?
byu/uberamd inbikewrench
by uberamd
7 Comments
No, pedals should have absolutely no play.
How did you discover they were fake?
It’s an axial bearing, the play is either axial or radial, this is radial play.
Either way, this looks like excessive to me
That is a lot of slack.
Do they spin smooth? If I pedal spins and doesn’t eat up precious watts, does play matter? Especially if you have thousands of miles on them.
Not normal
At least this much is not normal
I’ve just been through this on my Shimano pedals, but they need to be cleaned/serviced, and repacked with grease.
https://buckyrides.com/2023/02/22/rebuilding-your-mtb-gravel-pedals/
This is the guide I followed and it took a few tries to get the bearing load right if you do the full clean/rebuild.