# LOOK KEO MAX Pedal Maintenance?



## bikerjohn64 (Feb 9, 2012)

Anyone service their KEO Max pedals? I'm on my second set because the bearings on the first ones started to grind and were toast. I was surprised to find out that they were not meant to be "serviced". Anyone find the tool for axle removal without taking a vice grip to them?
I did notice on the older set that there are two sealed bearings pressed onto the axle shaft with a spacer between the two. Not an easy service. The needle bearings at the tip of the shaft were pressed into the body so they too were not very service friendly. 
I just like to keep things running smoothly with regular maintenance or preventative work so I can prevent what happened to my first set (which wore out after just over 1 yr)- I'm hoping that it was just a bad set. I am used to Shimano DA/XTR pedals where they can be services. 
Anyone with insight or similar experience with the KEO?


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## nayr497 (Nov 8, 2008)

Not sure, sorry I can't be of more help, but I'd like to know if they actually recalled or replaced any of these.

I got my Keo 2 Max's pretty early on and they don't spin/rotate at all. I have a few pairs of Keo Sprints and those rotate/spin freely. I'm used to clipping in with the spinning ones, much harder on the Maxs. 

I thought I had read somewhere that they corrected this issue. Wonder if mine could be sent in for new ones that spin?


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## vmiceli (Apr 26, 2011)

I have the same issue with Campagnolo pro-fit plus. The bearings seem machine pressed on the axle...

V


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*Campy bearings*



vmiceli said:


> I have the same issue with Campagnolo pro-fit plus. The bearings seem machine pressed on the axle...


Yes they are pressed onto the axle, but what happened to them that they need replacement? I put over 120,000 miles on a set and the grease was still white. The bearings are fine but the pedal release got very sloppy.


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## vmiceli (Apr 26, 2011)

These Campagnolo pedals were installed new 1 year ago. Used for 6000km in New Mexico dry weather, never seen a drop of rain. The left pedal now is not turning smoothly. The right pedal turns under its own weight, while the left one does not. I took the axle out and everything is spotless, shiny with plenty of white grease. Still it seems that the innermost of the three bearings is not turning smoothly. Very upsetting! I'll have to get a new axle somewhere (can't seem to find them anywhere online)...

V.


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*Define smoothly*



vmiceli said:


> These Campagnolo pedals were installed new 1 year ago. Used for 6000km in New Mexico dry weather, never seen a drop of rain. The left pedal now is not turning smoothly. The right pedal turns under its own weight, while the left one does not. I took the axle out and everything is spotless, shiny with plenty of white grease. Still it seems that the innermost of the three bearings is not turning smoothly. Very upsetting! I'll have to get a new axle somewhere (can't seem to find them anywhere online).


When you say it is not turning smoothly, do you mean you can feel it binding at some point or that it's gritty? If it is merely stiff, then the seal may just be a little tight. Can you feel that one bearing is in trouble or again is it just feeling stiff. Same question when the pedal is assembled. The fact that one pedal will "flop" and the other doesn't is not necessarily a sign of bad bearings. No matter how stiff a bearing feels (within reason) if there is no binding or gritty feeling, the bearing is OK.


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## vmiceli (Apr 26, 2011)

No binding, but gritty rotation. Today I decided to take the bearing out, degrease them, clean and regrease everything and put all of it together again. The bearings once stripped of all grease turned very smoothly. Couln't feel anything wrong with them. However once greased and installed on the axle the gritty rotation was there again. I think that once pressed on the axle the bearings get stressed and that's where the gritty rotation becomes apparent. The pedal is all back together regreased but with the same syntoms. I'll buy a new set of bearings for this pedal. I think somehow they failed prematurely.

V.


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## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*Seal propblem?*



vmiceli said:


> No binding, but gritty rotation. Today I decided to take the bearing out, degrease them, clean and regrease everything and put all of it together again. The bearings once stripped of all grease turned very smoothly. Couln't feel anything wrong with them. However once greased and installed on the axle the gritty rotation was there again. I think that once pressed on the axle the bearings get stressed and that's where the gritty rotation becomes apparent. The pedal is all back together regreased but with the same syntoms. I'll buy a new set of bearings for this pedal. I think somehow they failed prematurely.


Did it rotate smoothly with the seal removed? If the grittiness came back when you put the seal in, it might just be a rough edge on the seal. Otherwise it doesn't make sense that it would get rough once greased.


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## vmiceli (Apr 26, 2011)

Once the bearings were pressed on the axle the gritty rotation came back even without installing the axle back into the bedal with the seal completely loose and rotating with the axle. The new grease behaves like the old one, it is bad bearings. It seems I can get a new set of bearings for $30 so I will eventually replace them. Not sure how a bearing could fail so early with such normal usage though.

V.


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## vmiceli (Apr 26, 2011)

Update: after 40km TT today the pedal runs much smoother and the gritty feeling is gone. I guess re-greasing everything made a difference. I'll postpone buying new bearings for now.

V.


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