Moe Zhoost

I have a pair of M-Wave L326 pedals (made by the German company Messingschlager) that I would like to overhaul. The cone and locknut are recessed and, despite trying a variety of thin bladed tools to hold the cone while tightening the lock nut, results have not been successful. The cone is 11mm hex head and the locknut 9mm hex head. I've tried to modify a deep socket however the 2mm difference in the 2 wrench sides confounds things. Shimano makes a tool that has a 10+11 outer socket and a 7+8 inner, but this would require me to modify the tool or perhaps change the locknut to a smaller hex. I tried a set of thinwall tube sockets but clearance was still an issue.

I was hoping that someone here had a lead on a functional solution.

Pics of pedals and also the Shimano tool:


At close to $50 for the Shimano tool, maybe I should just invest in new pedals and call it a day.

dsbrantjr

I'd think twice (thrice or more) before putting out $50 for a tool which needs modification to MAYBE work. I like buying and modifying tools but that would be a stretch for me. No possibility of getting the right tool from M-Wave?

davidad

Get a pair of these. They are serviceable.
https://www.competitivecyclist.com/s...14&rmatt=tsid: cid:280658119 agid:1232552559852023 tidla-4580634160992813 prd:SHI0426-BK-ONESIZ crid:77034547588622 nw:search dvc:c st:shimano%20spd%20pedals mt:be&msclkid=4f444650f0f9156bf5731b7817309f29

Moe Zhoost

Yes, the uncertainty of whether the expensive tool CAN be modified pretty much rules it out. Also it's not like I'll get a lot of use out of it. I have a few more ideas to try out, though. I have not yet contacted M-Wave - still exploring their online presence for the "right" email/contact. Not optimistic.

I have a pair of those. I have not yet been able to figure out how they help me service my M-Wave pedals, though. Hints?

davidad

Get another pair!

Moe Zhoost

Thanks for responding to my post, but I'm not sure why you bothered. It was absolutely no help.

WizardOfBoz

Moe, davidad's reply is rather flip, but I'd make the point that unless those pedals significantly outperform other pedals, their deliberate lack of serviceability, and the the resulting high cost of finding/making/modifying a tool with no certainty of results, makes looking for another brand/model of pedals something that should be considered.

If these pedals have been the answer to your life-long pedal dreams, or were given to you by a dearly loved one just before their passing or something, great. But the bastards that designed such a poorly accessible system sure weren't thinking about ease of maintenance!

If the tool you show has the correct size hexes, great. If not (since i'm assuming that the tool is hardened) you have a bit of work on your hands. If you had a precision metal lathe and a rotary broaching tool you could make your own tool. You'd take an oversize hex stock, turn one end down enough to get into the hole. You'd drill that piece and bore into the hex end with an id large enough to handle a thinwall socket for the smaller nut. You'd have a smaller hole, but would leave some metal at the turned down tip. A rotary broach with a hex bit could cut the hole for the larger nut. All interior angles would have a bit of a radius to avoid stress concentration. I you plan on using this a lot, heat treat the tool. This is much like the tool on the right in your pic.

Not sure that it would be possible to find a locknut of smaller size that would still fit the spindle threads.

So making your own tool with the correct size is doable, but a lot of work.

davidad

Sorry about the dig, but I have worked on friends' stuff that is a pain because of poor design. I would try to hold the cone in place by wedging a screw driver between it and the pedal and tightening the lock-nut. It may take a few tries to get it right.

Moe Zhoost

No worries mate. The amount of time it takes to "fix" a particular thing can far outweigh its overall value. I'm still optimistic about success so it's too early to think about tossing them. A screw driver wedge does not work because the shaft interferes with even a thin wall socket for the lock not. I can fit a thin flat blade (like a lock picking tension wrench) in but can't get enough wedging tension on the cone (almost though). I have some ideas though. See below

Clearly! I can see no advantages of having the cone recessed so deep.

You must be an instrument maker or machinist. Would that I had the equipment and know-how to create my own elegant solutions. In any case, I have in mind to create a thin insert to contact not one but two faces of the cone. Basically this will be a flat strip of metal with a V formed on one end to match the 11mm hex head. With tension on 2 sides of the hex, I should be able to hold the cone securely while tightening up the lock nut. Stay tuned.

WizardOfBoz

Machinist wannabe. I'm an engineer. Grew up working in a machine shop, though.

Your two-face tool could work nicely. Here's a non-lathe approach. Get a piece of rod (you can buy "drill rod" in various sizes - very close to what you need). On the end, file flats on opposite sides so that the flats are as wide as the lands on the small nut. Using a hack saw, a file, and a drill, you should be able to get a space cut out so that your tool grabs the sides of the small nut. It's a nut fork. You might have to cut the square hole of a thinwall socket using a dremel tool and a carbide burr so that your nut fork fits inside that hole. And flats on the socket so that you can turn it.

But I think you've got this.

Moe Zhoost

Took me a bit to visualize, but I think I can no see it. Your proposed tool would grab the two opposed sides of the hex nut. It also sounds like it would work on the small lock nut with a socket for the cone. A bit different than what I had in mind, but I can see it working.

My plan was to make a tool with flats that grab/jam two adjacent sides of the larger cone hex head and use a smaller nut driver for the lock nut.

Thanks for the ideas.

WizardOfBoz

Yeah, I thought that it would be 1) fairly easy to find a thinwall socket for the big nut, but 2) not so for the small nut, and the 3) cutting a fork would probably be easier than finding a rotary broach to cut a hex hole.

In what can only be described as a complete failure of marketing, and to appreciate the power of words, I give you the "NutFork". For forking nuts.

Moe Zhoost

Excellent! Love it!

JohnnyRAD

Moe

i have an excellent tool for adjusting 11mm and 9mm pedal nuts. Will post as soon as I can add pics.