Originally Posted by
Andrew R Stewart
Peter?- Looks like a radial contact cartridge bearing which will have no cone, the "lock nut" is only to secure the bearings/axle and has no bearing load aspect.
One trick that I've used for this arrangement is to clean out with solvent all the grease one can w/o taking the bearings apart. Then inject a bunch of grease into the pedal body, where the axle/bearing unit goes. The fresh grease can squeeze out through the bearing seals as you press/screw the axle/bearings back in place. Andy
You're right about the first part, in that the outer lock nut is not a cone, but only serves to hold the spindle in place. But the outer cartridge bearing has metal seals on both sides, so it is impossible to squeeze grease through.
That is a key advantage of the Shimano pedals, that you can remove the spindle/bearing 'cartridge', clean out the pedal body cavity, and then put about 1cc of fresh grease at the bottom. Then press the cartridge back into the pedal body, which serves to force all of the old grease out in favor of fresh stuff. Saves a lot of time and fussing with teeny tiny little balls and bearing preload/adjustments. This nice feature is what allows the '5-minute pedal overhaul' I referred to.