tbo

Recently purchased 1980 Raleigh Sports as a secondary ride so I can ride with my wife, who has 1979 Raleigh Sports. Her bike is great and pristine, mine is meant to be a serviceable beater.

My right pedal spun off while riding and found it was DEEPLY cross-threaded with shards of metal showing. I did an actual side-of-the-road repair with just an adjustable wrench where I found something that approximated a thread or created a new one and kept on wrenching. It seems to be working amazingly well for now.

Is this:
A) One of those repairs that if it works, you did it right, and move on.
B) Oh no, that pedal is going to fall out tomorrow. Fix the RH crank and pedal immediately.

Remember - 35 year old Raleigh 3-speed. Hoping for A).

Thanks

fietsbob

There is a proceedure to fit a Threaded oversize sleeve in the crankarm and then that sleeve inside has straight threads to fit the pedal in as properly done

Helicoil is another ,there the insert is a coil of diamond shaped wire ,
same deal ... cut the crank to a bigger thread and when the Helicoil is in Place its the 9/16x20 tpi standard inside ..

A Professional Bike shop should be able to take care of it ..

tbo

The Helicoil system costs about the same as a new crank arm, but always nice to have a new tool and technique! Thanks for the info.

fietsbob

well shop service may be less than BYO for the whole Kit.

whole cranksets are cheaper than Right Arms , as a repair Part .

You Pick ..

Andrew R Stewart 

Depending on the amount of material loss or damage the answer might be just chasing from the back side of the are (which I'd try first and use LockTite to secure the pedal), installing a Helicoil (steel arms don't have a lot of material around the hole so...) or replacement of the arm. Andy.

desconhecido 

Assuming this is a Nottingham Raleigh with the cottered crank with the Heron chain wheel. The crank arm is pretty hard steel and is pretty tough. Pedal axles are pretty hard too, so I have no idea who won the war. First step is to see which, the axle or the crank arm, or both, lost metal and how much and how much of the threads were affected. Best scenario is that the pedal is the biggest loser and that most of the crank threads are serviceable. If chasing the crank arm threads from the inside indicates that a significant number of the crank arm threads (whatever significant means) are serviceable, get a pedal with a perfect, or near perfect axle and see how things go. If it threads in reasonable tight at a square angle, if there is no abmormal slop in the fit make a judgement of the serviceability of the crank threads -- are they damaged or within serviceable acceptability. If there is any question, use a thread locker. Locktite Blue is not for such cases. You want one of the stronger products -- like red which normally requires head to remove. They have other products -- stud setting compounds and the like but they are more or less permanent and you might not be able to get the pedal off in the future. So, use a pedal that you like: MKS tourists are ok and appropriate (inmo) for a sports.

If the crank arm needs machine work, you're probably better off trying to find a replacement crankset. THere are boodles of Raleigh Sports being sold at low prices with serviceable cranks. There is a lot of interest in these forums, perhaps somebody has a used but serviceable crankset they can help you out with for a fair price.

FBinNY 

As a rule, steel cranks aren't good candidates for pedal inserts. There's not that much extra meat surrounding the pedal hole, so enlarging it can be more problematic than with aluminum cranks.

In any case, as long as you;re not riding far from home, I'd say leave bad enough alone. Just make sure the pedal is really tight (tighter than you might with an aluminum crank). If you want, you might remove the pedal at home and see how much thread is still OK. Odds are that more than half will be, and if so, you're in luck.

You might also visit the local bike co-op and see if you can source a replacement arm as a backup. Don't forget that if you replace the arm, you'll most likely need to replace both cotters because the new cotter's angle may not match the original.

desconhecido 

Are 9.5 mm cotters (what I assume he will need for a Sports) easily available in various cut angles? According to what I read on the bike smith cotter pages, Raleighs take a shallower angle cut (and, therefore longer machined surface on the cotter). I bought cotters from him for my Sports and they worked perfectly without excessive installation force using his tool. Other cotters I've had to grind and file and muscle though I don't suspect that depth of insertioin is of much importance so long as the threads are exposed and you can get the nut on.

For someone in the Houston area looking for cotters or someone to work on cottered cranks, Daniel Boone is the only place I know that still has cotters. They, no doubt, still have the cotter tools as it looks like they never throw anything away. Probably haven't used them in a while. I have one of Bike Smith's presses and will apply it for free to any cottered crank someone brings by.

Matariki

I've never met a cotter that did not require at least some filing to make it fit right. The ones made by Mark Stonich at Bikesmiths are top notch.

To the OP: It sounds like your fix may be good enough so I would say just ride and see what happens. You should be able to notice any problems well in advance of a catastrophic failure so a few gentle rides would tell the tale. As suggested by others, running a tap from the back side would probably clean things up satisfactorily.
.

rydabent

andrew +1 Chasing the threads from the back side will probably save the crank arm.

Andrew R Stewart 

Thanks, being a Dr's kid I think of the "do no harm" approach first. Andy.

FBinNY 

There's no benefit to chasing from the left in the OP's situation. The pedal is already in so whatever threads are there are now chased. Removing the pedal and running a tap through will not restore any lost material, and might remove more (taps are cutting tools).

In the field, the OP might have done himself some good by trying to run the pedal in from the wrong side using it to chase out any damaged threads and reduce the chances of a cross thread. The OP managed without doing this, so I offer it only for anyone else who might find himself in a similar situation.

Lastly consider WHY the pedal loosened in the first place. The right/left threading of cranks works to keep pedals from loosening ONLY if the bearings spin freely. Any rotational friction form a dry or stiff bearing will loosen pedals in short order. So the key is making sure pedals are truly free-spinning even under load.

trailangel

Why not use some plumber's teflon tape on the pedal threads and be done?
I am surprise nobody has mentioned this.

dedhed

My bike? Make sure the pedal is lubed good, screw it in, put a tack weld in on the backside of the crank. When something fails again (possibly many years down the road), replace the crank with a used one for $30 or buy a donor bike for $50

FBinNY 

What possible benefit would there be to using teflon tape on pedal threads?

desconhecido 

Keeps them from leaking.

fietsbob

Chasing the pedal with a Pedal Tap from the back side , then re threading a Pedal You will love forever can be threaded in normally

There are Gap filling LocTite Products that work well, But, then again, Buying a Small bottle of it, yourself.
pushes past your 'I can Buy a new one For That' Threshold..

check with a Machine Shop, they may have some.. then you just need a small application.

tbo

OP here. Thanks for all the replies. This bike is ridden quite calmly when I go riding around town with my wife (< 5 miles from home). I take another bike for longer excursions at a faster pace.

I think I am just going to ride it until it becomes another problem. At that point, I know that I am probably into replacing at least the crank arms and the cotters, and possibly the crank itself, depending on how I source the parts. When that happens, I'll check the BB for lube and anything else while I've got the cotters out.

Thanks again
Tom

FBinNY 

A sound and reasonable plan. Cross bridges one at a time as you come to them.

trailangel

Oh, I forgot. This tape can only be used in NYC on pipe threads.

tbo

Followup: Right pedal is now on an irreparably funky angle, making it eccentric.

I have a crankset from ebay being shipped, pedals and cotters from other sources on order. First experience with replacing cotters, so I bought a pack of ten in case (when) I screw up the filing. Still really cheap.

hueyhoolihan

sounds like you decided to get a "new to you" cottered crank? curious as to whether the decision was based on limitations due to frame's BB shell, to put threaded cartridge BB and square tapered crank on there. not any implication of criticism, i have no opinion one way or another.

tbo

The bike is originally cottered, and I can't see a real reason to change that because I don't have a non-cottered BB lying around to replace it. I took the cotters out yesterday and will be repacking the BB today after I get the right lube. Then I will be just waiting for all the parts to arrive.

If I had a non-cottered BB and crankset that fit, I would have considered it. Cotters are cheap ($.45 a piece, plus shipping) and it's something I haven't done before, so I'm kinda looking forward to it.

The design of this bike is so old and simple that I just let it tell me what it needs and go with that.

hueyhoolihan

understood. thanks.

desconhecido 

You probably got your pack of ten cotters from the same source I got mine. Have your file ready -- the "medium" cotters I received have a much steeper angle than the standard Raleigh requires.