IPassGas

How often would people recommend doing a full cleaning and repacking of bearings in shimano spd pedals (e.g. M520)? 10,000 miles if no obvious grinding?

bOsscO

I'll ride until the pedals start making an 'eee-errr-eee-errr' sound when spinning. Then I know it's service time

Iride01 

Depends on how fussy you want to be. You can wait till it starts making noise or in my case with my PD-A520's, I feel a click in my pedal.

Might be just something to give yourself something to do every couple years regardless of mileage. I wouldn't sweat it either way, If you do nothing and save yourself the expense of grease and cleaning stuff, and you value your time spent, then you might be ahead of the game just buying new pedals when the time comes.

fujidon

Now you tell me that they should be serviced. My SPD pedals are about 25 years old and still working fine. I guess I should service them before they start failing otherwise I'll need another pair before another 25 years goes by.

hrdknox1

Same here. I've been using Shimano SPD Dura Ace pedals for umteen years with no service and no problems.

Crankycrank

Same pedal, same tick for my neighbors 520's. He seems to get around 15k dry miles out of them before needing a lube.

sweeks

I serviced mine after I submerged them on a river crossing, at about 6,000 miles. No water had gotten in, but it was a nice chance to see what was inside.

Amt0571

If I had to service my M520 pedals everytime they get submerged on a river crossing I would be disassembing them once a month in winter...

I only service my pedals when they feel dry when rotating them by hand. I used an Xpedo MF3 pedals that required frequent service, but so far, my M520 seem to be built like a tank. 6 years with no servicing and no issues.

Koyote

I’ve had pedals that felt perfectly smooth on the bike, but then when I pull them off and turn the spindles by hand they are rough. Just saying.

IPassGas

Yes, agree. I swapped some old pedals to a commute bike and noticed the roughness, but only when off the bike. The shimano design is excellent in excluding grim. The old pedals worked like new after cleaning. Amazingly, I found the ball bearing that fell to the floor and rolled away. So, perhaps just take pedals off every couple of years and give a turn by hand. If not rough, then don't bother repacking.

Iride01 

You don't have to disassemble the bearing sub-assembly. I guess you can call it a cartridge. Just get the old grease cleaned out of it with solvent and maybe a blast of compressed air. You might want to loosen the cartridge a little as you clean them. Ensure it's dry, adjust the bearings, then fill the pedal housing where the bearing cartridges go with grease. As you push the pedal axle back in, then the grease will be forced through the cartridge.

This way you won't have to worry about your balls coming up short on the count. While you might worry you can't check the races, who cares. If you put them back on and they still give you trouble you can easily go back and do a more detailed inspection. Not a big deal to take it apart again. Once you've done it you really see pedals are simple and quick to deal with.

tdilf

If my pedal (Shimano XTRs) spins for a few seconds or more - I leave it alone, if it rotates less than 4-5 times during the spin test, I will service it. If it doesn't spin freely you are loosing watts is the way i look at it (which means a shorter ride for me).

davidad

I regrease mine every 5000 miles. On rare occasions I adjust the bearing peload.

Marcus_Ti

Depends on use.

My XTRs need service. The DS in particular has developed quite a but of lateral play in the spindle....about 15k miles

Dave Mayer

Shimano M520s are one of the great bargains in cycling. Excellent design, construction, materials and performance. As good as anyone needs, unless you are shaving grams and are willing to pay big $ to do so.

Servicing these pedals takes about 15 minutes, so why not do it proactively? Procedure:

1. Remove the pedals.
2. Lightly clamp the Shimano plastic bearing removal tool in your bench vise, insert the pedal, and unwind the bearing cartridges. Careful of the reverse thread on one of the pedals - it is marked.
3. Wipe off any excess old grease and clean out the cavity in the pedal body. You do not need to degrease the cartridge assembly, particularly with something as ineffective and corrosive as water-based degreasers.
4. Fill the bottom half of the pedal body with fresh grease, and re-insert the cartridge into the pedal body. All of the old grease will be ejected out of the bearings. Good as new, and for another 5,000 miles or so.
5. You will have to wipe up surplus grease residue for the first couple of rides. Bring a rag.

Advice: you do not need to disassemble these pedals, and face a shower of teeny tiny balls. Or a fiddly bearing preload procedure. The above steps will clean out the old grease and maintain the correct bearing preload on your pedals.