RubeRad

Back in 2017 I bought my wife a pair of Wellgo MG-3 pinned platform pedals off eBay for about $20. She put a lot of miles on them and they've been great.

But our most recent ride, the right pedal started squealing like the mandrake root in Harry Potter. Checking it by hand, both pedals spin super loose and rattly.

I watched some videos about disassembling platform pedals to clean and grease them up, and they all seem to be, hold the crank end still with one wrench, and take a hex bolt off the outside end with a thinwall socket.

But looking into the end of this one, it's not a hex bolt, it's just a round metal wide-brim-hat-looking thing, like a washer but with a cylinder in the middle, maybe crimped/pressed onto the end of the spindle?

(a) how do I get that thing off, and

(b) does that mean these 'wellgo' pedals are counterfeit?

dsaul

MG3 pedals have DU bearings, which are a self lubricating bushing, and are not serviceable. They are a disposable item.

RubeRad

Are you saying dispose of the bearings and swap in new sealed bearings? Or dispose of the pedals?

Andrew R Stewart 

I read the pedal internals' description as being a bearing/axle design that has had the axle end peened over (instead of being threaded) to keep all together. This type of assembly is not meant to be serviced other than dripping oil down and into the pedal axle. A sign of the lowest cost construction that has been the usual for inexpensive bike parts since the beginning.

Lay the bike on it's side and drip thick oil into the uncapped pedal end. When you see oil bleeding out the crank end of the axle stop and repeat for the other side's pedal. This will only be a stop gap and not a solution for worn bearings but doesn't cost much but time and a little oil.

When this periodic lubing becomes frustrating consider getting a higher grade of pedal, ones that can be taken apart. But please don't ignore them too for 6 years. Andy

RubeRad

Nice thanks. 'peened' seems like the right word that I didn't know to describe what I'm seeing. Dripping some chain lube into that area is what we actually did when we got home. Although we didn't wait long enough for the lube to make it all the way out the crank end, it did make a dramatic difference in smoothness of spinning on that pedal. I already expected that to be only a short-term mitigation, not an actual solution.

That pedal happens to have lost its dustcap (maybe why it got into worse shape). The left pedal I tried to dig out the dust cap, and leaned into it pretty hard, but only ended up gouging the plastic with a screwdriver. I guess I should keep digging.

If periodic oil drips stop working and these pedals get binned, it's ok. With the amount my wife rode them, I already got $20 worth. Proud of her for wearing stuff out!

grumpus

You should be able to oil it from the crank end, no need to remove dust cap.
That model is aimed at light weight rather than long life. Wellgo make some pedals like the LU987 that have cr-mo axles, adjustable cup and cone bearings and replaceable grip pins (there are a couple of different models with slightly different shapes but those specs). They do tend to come from the factory over-tightened and under-greased, so you need to spend a few minutes putting that right, but then I find they last well in normal use.

dsaul

Dispose of the pedals. They are not serviceable. It's not worth the effort of trying to remove the peened end cap and sourcing the proper DU bushings.

RubeRad

Good idea! I shoulda thought of that! There is kind of a rubber seal there I'll have to try to temporarily move out of the way

3alarmer 

...super loose and rattly does not sound like a problem that oil is going to solve. Oil will make it quieter for a while. If there's no provision for new bearings or bearing adjustments, maybe just bite the bullet and find replacements.

RubeRad

I did order a pair of Stolen thermalite pedals (20% off on Labor Day!), there's a question of whether her 5/10s on plastic pins will be grippy enough. If not, we'll roll the dice with these a while longer and buy some more metal.

3alarmer 

...I have a whole box of toe clips and straps, where the toe clips are too small for me.

veganbikes

Welgo has always been a cheaper test ride type pedal maybe one notch up in some cases but more of a disposable item. If you want a good platform pedal look at Crank Brothers Stamps and you won't be disappointed. No they aren't cheap-o pedals and they do cost money but they are serviceable and long lasting and grip really nicely and for my larger feet they are super comfortable.

grumpus

I think it's more of a gap filler than an actual seal.

grumpus

They are my default everyday flat pedal, I have several pairs that work well, the right shape and good grip. Not the lightest, admittedly, but then neither am I.
AIUI Crank Brothers pedals have a reputation for rapid bearing wear. I like their clipless mechanism but I've not tried the flats.

veganbikes

I had one issue with my pedals which they took care of under warranty that was a couple thousand miles ago and no issues since and no issues with my other ones either.

RubeRad

So I tried this. After the stolen/thermalite pedals were put on, I stood the wellgos on a paper plate in the garage (empty cap-side up for one, crank-side up for the other, with the seal/gasket pulled up out of the way), and filled the cavity with chain lube (homebrew mix of bar/chain and oms). They've been sitting there for a week or two with a pool of standing oil. A few times I picked them up and spun the crank some to try to give it a chance to work its way down. Maybe a few drops got in there, but this morning I had to move them so gave up and poured the oil out.