thea857•1d agoMost Upvoted

The moment I figured out I was greasing pedal threads wrong for years

I was helping a buddy swap pedals on his gravel bike last month and he watched me put grease on the threads before installing them. He stopped me and said 'dude, you're supposed to put grease on the spindle, not the crank threads.' I had been doing it backward for like 5 years. Turns out when you grease the crank threads, the grease can creep into the pedal bearing housing and mess things up over time. He showed me a crusty old pedal he had where the bearings sounded like sandpaper. So now I just dab a little grease on the spindle itself where it meets the crank arm. Has anyone else made this same dumb mistake or am I the only one who never read the manual?

2 comments

2 Comments

jesse_fisher5h agoMost Upvoted

I don't know man, I've been greasing crank threads for like 15 years without a single issue. Never had a pedal seize or any bearing go crunchy on me. Maybe it depends on the brand of pedal or how much grease you're slapping on there. If you just dab a tiny bit on the threads like I do it's probably not gonna travel anywhere near the bearings. I think some people just overthink maintenance stuff that barely matters in the real world.

the_ray1d ago

Turns out when you grease the crank threads, the grease can creep into the pedal bearing housing" - that exact thing happened to a buddy of mine. He kept wondering why his pedals felt gritty after a season and finally pulled one apart to find a greasy mess inside the bearings. Swears by the spindle method now and will lecture anyone who listens.