Bicycle Mechanics - older campy cranks and egg beaters

I had a quite a hard time when I installed my egg beaters in my older campagnolo pista cranks. (the ones with the flutes on the arms) I was wondering if anyone else has run into this? I got the pedals in but it required a ton of force. I ended up putting the crank arms in a vice and installing the pedals that way. I'm dreading taking the pedals out.

I had a quite a hard time when I installed my egg beaters in my older campagnolo pista cranks. (the ones with the flutes on the arms) I was wondering if anyone else has run into this? I got the pedals in but it required a ton of force. I ended up putting the crank arms in a vice and installing the pedals that way. I'm dreading taking the pedals out.Ooooooooooooh......

ouch... right good luck getting them out...
maybe you crossthreaded them or as these used? maybe the threads were damaged or dirty.
Either way, I hope you like egg beaters

Well it's too late now if there was a problem. Never force threads. Never!

Any threaded component on a bike should start and then thread most of the way in by hand, with gentle turning in the fingers. Greater torque is only required for the final tightening. If not there is an incompatibility between the threads or one, other or both has sustained damage, corrosion etc and requires professional attention.

In particular to pedals, and some BB components, one must to be careful to note that some parts are left hand threaded - left sided pedals are usually left threaded, right hand pedals right threaded. A mix-up here would cause severe damage. If in doubt check - it is possible to observe the direction of threads by eye. I can only guess what damage you might have done, most likely to your cranks but it would be worth getting a second opinion. It might be possible to install a helicoil thread insert into the crank.

Ed

I should add that the crank arms are clearly marked 9/16 X 20 and that’s what the pedals are. This is also the second time I’ve encountered this ‘phenomenon’. The other time was with a set of campy strada’s, same pedals. The pedals installed fine on a set of shimano cranks, so I don’t think there’s a problem with them. I have removed the pedals from my current set-up once before. There wasn’t any obvious thread damage. Has anyone installed eggbeaters on older campy cranks and had it go smoothly?

Installation of my eggbeaters on those old 151 BCD Pista cranks were met with some resistance also. I've removed the pedals a couple times and back on again and the crank threads seemed ok. My Speedplays threaded smoothly, just to see if the threads were ok. I've tried mounting my other sets of eggbeaters on these cranks also. They all thread tight. OTH, these same eggbeaters thread smoothly onto my newer Record C Pista cranks.

I have had enough trouble with vintage stradas that I bought a set of pedal taps, and I clean out the threads before installing pedals on any campy crank. I think that the hole gets a little oblong as they age...the taps are about $20 from several places on the web...

I have had enough trouble with vintage stradas that I bought a set of pedal taps, and I clean out the threads before installing pedals on any campy crank. I think that the hole gets a little oblong as they age...the taps are about $20 from several places on the web...

does it make any sense to do it now? or is the damage done?

Based on what the fixer and luker have said, you may have nothing to worry about. At this point, if damage has been done, you're better off leaving it. And if damage hasn't been done, you don't have to worry about it. So I vote: don't worry about it.