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The day I stopped using grease on pedal threads
I used to always slather grease on pedal threads before installing them. That's what I was taught when I started wrenching at a shop in Portland 6 years ago. Then last month I had a customer come back with a stripped crank arm on a brand new SRAM crankset. Turns out the grease let me overtighten without realizing it, and the aluminum threads just gave out. Now I use a tiny drop of blue threadlocker on the pedals instead. It keeps them from backing out but still lets you remove them with a normal wrench. The trick is using just a dab, not a whole drop, on the first few threads. Has anyone else made this switch or had a crank arm get ruined from overgreasing?
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nancygrant23d ago
@troy832 probably saw that happen to me too, with a set of XT cranks. Blue Loctite is the way.
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Crazy timing, @nancygrant - I stripped an old steel frame using grease because the torque wrench slipped and I never felt the click.
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troy83224d ago
Watched a shop mechanic strip a carbon crank arm using that exact grease trick before I even got to argue against it.
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