Up/down play in Shimano M747 pedal
 

I have a pair of Shimano M747 pedals from the mid-90s. I love them, used them on my mountain bike for a few years. They then they sat idle until this year when I put them on my road bike. They were working fine with my Shimano shoes (also from the mid-90s vintage) for a couple of months until the sole started separating from the shoe and I bought some Specialized MTB shoes and a new set of SPD cleats.

Within the first 100 miles of riding with the new shoes and cleats, I started having an issue with the left pedal creaking like crazy. Copious application of White Lightning to the pedal would quiet it for a ride or two. On the upstroke, I could feel some up/down play in the pedal. Just to rule out cleat differences, I swapped my cleats onto the opposite shoes and the play still exists in the left pedal.

I've tried readjusting my spring tension and can't see anything obviously wrong with the pedal. There is no play as far as I can tell in the spindle.

Is there a way to overhaul the SPD assembly? Or should I just give up and consider buying a new pair of SPDs?

Thanks,

Scott

I doubt there's anything wrong with the pedal. Try re-orienting the cleat on your shoe.

I had some 747's, they were my first clipless pedals. EXCELLENT pedals, as you know. Unfortunately, they don't last forever, I retired mine several years ago, and in fact they were doing the same thing yours are doing (clicking, clacking, more play than should have been, etc.). Sometimes pairing new parts with old ones makes the wear more evident, as is the case with your new cleats and the old pedals. Maybe someone else has an idea on how to rebuild them, but my opinion is that it's time to shop for new pedals-

The cleats are tight right?

I have a set of pre-747s from ~93-94 that I used for a few years then switched to times around 2000. I gave them to my girlfriend and she uses them for commuting, year round, in traffic (lots of clipping in/out, dragging cleats at stops) and they're still going strong after 3 more years of use! That's a good 10 years. Not too shabby.

Yes, they can be adjusted and overhauled, if you have the patience.

I cover this subject in detail in this thread:

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?t=177050

Oh yes, quite tight. I've tried a few different cleat positions as well.

I'll give it a bit more time before I decide to buy new pedals.

Scott

Mine do it as well. Have done from pretty well new, February last year. They're not 747's, but they look very similar to the older ones. It's not play in the bearings so a bearing service won't help. The only suggestion I've heard is to tighten up the release tension. I have doubts that it will help and I don't plan to do that as I'm using them in traffic and want to be able to get out in a hurry.
I will be going to Looks for my fast bike and just live with it on my commuter.