Maybe it’s been a long time and they are not spinning smooth. Or they have a bit of play, make a clicking noise; well you don’t need to chuck em, just rebuild em.
Shimano pedals are well wicked because you can rebuild them pretty easy. You can either go deep and do a Full Monty on all the bits, or go Light and Fresh to add new grease and adjust for play.
Quick Links:
Light and Fresh Rebuild Steps
Full Monty Rebuild Steps
Reference Specification Chart
Exploded Diagrams of Pedals
What you will need:
- Probably a vice, unless you are good at rigging stuff to be vicelike. But yeah a vice.
- 8mm Allen that can be clamped in a vice.
- 8mm cone wrench (PD-M9000 series pedals XTR )
- 10 mm cone wrench (PD-M8000 series and 700 series, pedals XT)
- High quality synthetic grease – I like Park High Performance Grease 1 it’s blue
- 15mm wrench (9000 series)
- 17mm wrench (8000 and 700 series, XT)
If you want to replace balls, you need 3/32nds size and at least 24 of them per pedal but PD-M9000’s use 22. I have found that you don’t need to replace the balls.
Might be wise to have a few spare on hand if you are doing Full Monty Overhaul.
A quick note on wrenches, the cone wrench (a slim wrench) really is essential as there isn’t enough space for a normal fat wrench, if you are handy you can grind down a normal wrench and make it work
If you know your pedal model, check out the reference chart here
How much time do I need?
I do this for love not money. A new set of pedals is relatively cheap but I believe in less waste.
The Full Monty and it took me about 40mins each pedal and I’m fairly pedantic. Without photos etc, I could probably do the Light and Fresh in 15mins each.
Work Scope Note:
The work I have here is based on 8000 series (XT), 9000(XTR) and 770(XT) pedals. But most Shimano pedals use a similar method of engineering, ie plastform pedals use similar spindle assemblies to non platform pedals. Things that change are tool sizes and numbers of bearings.
Most of the MTB SPD pedals use a normal wrench to remove the spindle assembly from the pedal body. Some 500 & 700 Series , I think the “EH” which is a common multi use pedal, use a special plastic tool called at TL-PD40 which is essential to remove spindle from body. This $5 plastic tool is also essential for servicing Shimano Road Pedals.
On such a pedal requiring the plastic tool, I would recommend getting the PD40 tool, removing the spindle and having a look to see what tools are needed before going any further.
Most if not all of the Shimano Road pedals need the TL-PD40
Important! Threads
If you don’t know this, you need to.
In engineering world there are Left hand threads and Right Hand Threads.
Right Hand Threads are what you normally think of…. righty tighty. Left Hand Threads are… you got it… lefty tighty. Before going full hulk hogan on stuff, observe what pedal you are servicing.
Also when in doubt, apply a little force to see which way the revolution is. This doesn’t apply to carbon fibre.
A Non drive pedal spindle has LHT – Left Hand Threads , ie counter clockwise to tighten.
A Drive side pedal spindle has RHT – Right hand threads ie clockwise to tighten
Light and Fresh Rebuild
What to do first? – look for your pedal model number and scroll to the bottom of the page for an exploded view PDF, this can help a lot.
As with all this stuff, note the order, lay components out as they get disassembled and keep it clean. Go slow. Taking photos can help if you get in a bind.
Basic procedure is – remove the assembly out of the body, wipe of nasty grease, adjust the bearing pre load, add new grease and put back together.
- Remove pedals from bike – non drive is Left Hand Thread (clockwise to loosen)
- Lightly clamp the pedal body in vice, use an open ended spanner (17mm XT) to loosen the Lock-Bush
*Note: looking down the axle towards the pedal -Drive side RHT you will be turning counter clockwise to loosen, Non drive pedal LHT you will be turning clockwise to loosen.
On some pedals if you look really close there is an indicator. These PD-M770’s have a mark, shown in pictures, very faint. - Pull the Spindle Assembly out and wipe off all dirty grease
- Clamp an 8mm allen key in a vice so it can support your axle.
- Adjust the bearing preload : at the outermost end of the spindle there is a Cone beneath a Locknut. Loosen the outermost nut (Locknut) and adjust the Cone until the bearing is snug, spins smooth and has no shaft wobble / play.
- Tighten the Locknut while holding the Cone in place to stop from moving
this keeps your bearing adjustment - Feel the bearing and re-adjust as necessary
- Apply new grease to the bearing and Locknut and Lock-Bush area
- Clean the inside of the pedal body. Do the best you can and if you use solvents or degreaser ensure there is none in there when you re-assemble.
- Slide the freshly greased and adjusted spindle back into the pedal body and tighten the Lock-Bush
Some of the pedal bodies are imprinted with torque spec near the Lock-Bush, the PD-M770 is 10Nm (more specs in table below) - Check for spindle wobble. If there is some, then open the pedal, pull out the spindle and adjust the bearing preload a bit tighter, re-assemble and test again. This is the Shimano way. Better to start loose and remove the wobble than over-tighten bearings.
Full Monty Rebuild
Similar to Light and Fresh, but you go all the way and take the bearings apart which gives you access to removing a lot more crud and old grease.
What to do first? – look for your pedal model number and scroll to the bottom of the page for an exploded view PDF, this can help a lot if you get in a bind.
The Full Monty is definitely trickier and riskier as the ball bearings are super small and you have to be pretty good at manipulating them to get it all back together. But, theupside is everything will be fresh clean and regressed and ready for another 10 years of service!
- Lightly clamp the pedal body in vice, use an open ended spanner (17mm XT) to loosen the Lock-Bush
*Note: looking down the axle towards the pedal -Drive side RHT you will be turning counter clockwise to loosen, Non drive pedal LHT you will be turning clockwise to loosen.
On some pedals if you look really close there is an indicator. These M770’s have a mark, shown in pictures, very faint. - Pull the Spindle Assembly out and wipe off all dirty grease
- Clamp an 8mm allen key in a vice so it can hold your axle vertically.
- STRIPPING THE SPINDLE FOR CLEANING
- Loosen and almost remove the top two nuts, lower one is a Cone and note the orientation.
- Carefully, take the Spindle out of the vice, take your time on this next parts, the ball bearings are very small and easy to lose.
- Set the spindle on a flat clean rag covered surface, remove the two outermost nuts and pull apart the assembly.
Note the balls are very small and some will be hidden in the grease.
Note the orientation of the Body-Cup, this is especially important in the M540, ME700 - Clean all the parts, be gentle with the rubber spindle seal (inner most)
- Clean the ball bearings – (you should have 24 for XT or Lower and 22 for XTR)
I do this in a small plastic container with some solvent, I use WD40
Be sure to dry the bearings - Inspect for damage
- REASSEMBLY
- Slide the Lock-Bush onto the spindle.
- Apply fresh grease to both sides of the Body-Cup
- Stick the bearings to the outermost side of the Body-Cup.
- Slide the Spindle through the Body-Cup from the other end
be careful not to knock off the bearings. - Thread on the Cone, noting orientation
This will help from loosing bearings - HERE IS THE TRICKIEST PART!
Turn the spindle over and stick the bearings to the innermost side of the Body-Cup
I use a very small screwdriver to help manipulate - Pull it all together and loose tighten the Cone to keep in place.
- Inspect closely and ensure all the bearings are seated.
- Thread on the Locknut
- Adjust the bearing preload : at the outermost end of the spindle there is a Cone beneath a Locknut. Loosen the outermost nut (Locknut) and adjust the Cone until the bearing is snug, spins smooth and has no shaft wobble / play.
- Tighten the locknut while holding the cone-nut in place to stop from moving
- Feel the bearing and re-adjust as necessary
- Apply fresh grease to the bearing and Lock-Bush area
- Clean the inside of the Pedal Body. Do the best you can and if you use solvents or degreaser ensure there is none in there when you re-assemble.
- Slide the freshly greased and adjusted spindle back into the Pedal Body and tighten the Lock-Bush
Some of the pedal bodies are imprinted with torque spec near the Lock-Bush, the PD-M770 is 10Nm (more specs in table below) - Check for spindle wobble. If there is some, then open the pedal, pull out the spindle and adjust the bearing preload a bit tighter, re-assemble and test again. This is the Shimano way. Better to start loose and remove the wobble than over-tighten bearings.
SIDENOTE: I removed the Rubber Nut (shown in the picture of the full exploded diagram) to clean it and then thread back onto the spindle. Your don’t have to do this, thus I didn’t mention above. If you do, just make sure it goes back on in the same place and it threads on and off.
Reference Specifications Chart
| Pedal Model | Lock Bush Size (mm) | # 3/32nd Balls(per pedal) | Spindle Locknut (mm) | Spindle Cone (mm) | Lock Bush Torque (Nm) |
| PD-MEH500 | PD40 | 12×2 | 7 | 10 | 10-12 |
| PD-M770 | 17 | 12×2 | 7 | 10 | 10 |
| PD-M9100 | 15 | 11×2 | 7 | 8 | 9-12 |
| PD-M9120 | 15 | 12×2 | 7 | 8 | 9-12 |
| PD-M8100 | 17 | 12×2 | 7 | 10 | 9-12 |
| PD-M8120 | 17 | 12×2 | 7 | 10 | 9-12 |
| PD-ME700 | PD40 | 12×2 | 7 | 10 | 10-12 |
| PD-M540 | 17 | 12×2 | 7 | 10 | 10-12 |
Exploded Diagrams
Not seeing your pedal? take a look here https://si.shimano.com/en/
Adjusting Clip in Force
Adjusting the clip in force or spring tension is also something I get ask about. It’s a pretty easy procedure shown here.
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