Originally Posted by
elihu23
I never even thought to rebuild such an item.
I bought a Walmart bike and rebuilt everything out of the box. But, didn't think to do the pedals. (I did lay it on its side and let some light oil drain through each pedal's axle.). After 200 miles one of the pedals became loose internally. The locknut on the outer end (beneath a plastic cap) came loose.
After pulling the plastic cap and seeing how it probably worked, I decided to overhaul both pedals. It wasn't hard at all. But, each pedal had a total of 26 1/4" loose ball bearings. Fortunately I didn't lose any. I learned it's a good idea to work over a large piece of cloth so they don't travel far.