MKS AR-3 dust caps
 

While I'm asking questions today, anyone know how to remove the flush plastic dust caps from MKS AR-3 pedals? The pedals are about 25 years old, due for an overhaul, and seem well made enough to for that to be worth doing. But I can't see any way to get the caps off without destroying them--no slot for a screwdriver or anything. Sorry, no pictures.

I'd try carefully prying them out with a small knife blade.

No space for a knife blade unless I gouge one out.

Caps look like this?
http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/868...3pedals.th.jpg

If it does, a small hobby flat screwdriver can be 'shoved' in at any edge and the cap can be pried/leveraged out. Can grease the screwdriver or use a spray oil if the cap is on the dry and hard side. Or put the pedal in the oven (the pilot light heat is enough and don't let the mrs catch you) until the cap gets soft/more flexible (about 15-30+ mins) then do the screwdriver thing.

No--pedals look right, but the dust cap just says MKS horizontally, not wrapped around. Also, the cap isn't flat--has a ridge in it, as if you took a flat disk and folded it slightly, maybe 20 degrees, and formed a crease, so it has two flat faces. Hard to describe.

I just pry 'em out with a small screwdriver. Works fine. And you can pop 'em back in no problem.

Harris has extra caps. Hunt here if you're curious - or call 'em up and ask them:

http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/pedals.html

Wow, I'd never been to that part of the Harris site--that's a lot of pedals. But I can see I'm not describing the situation very well. If it were only a matter of prying out the existing dust caps with a screwdriver, I would already have done it. But he way they're fitted into the pedal makes it impossible to fit any sort of prying implement, however fine the blade, between the plastic of the cap and the metal around it, unless you punch or gouge a hole in the cap. I may just drip some Tenacious Oil in from the threaded end and call it good enough.

Maybe post some pictures. MKS caps I've seen look mostly like this:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/images/mks-dustcaps-med.jpg

Perhaps you can screw a screw into the cap and pull it out this way?

Sorry, I can't do photos. Well, I guess I could, but I don't. Doesn't look like either of those caps, though. Panther007, the screw idea sounds pretty good. Maybe I'll drill a hole the size of the root diameter of the 5 mm bolt, thread in a bolt, and hope it "self-taps" threads into the plastic. Then I could use a short bolt to plug the hole in the dust cap when done (assuming it comes out in one piece.) Or maybe I'll just say the hell with it. The pedal turn reasonably smoothly as they are now.

Oh just do it - overhauling pedals will let them live a very long time. If you were to buy new MKS pedals, they'd have to be overhauled before installing them. It's a good practice - taking care of one's components.

Yes, you're right. Cleaning and regreasing pedals just feels like such a righteous thing to do, with all those little ball bearings and all...I'll do it. Thanks for not letting me slack off.

[QUOTE=jonwvara;9773621] Well, I guess I could, but I don't. QUOTE]

Nice.

For my 2 cents, the pedal end caps are either screwed in or just pushed in, one or the other. There are specialized tools made for pedal end caps or, as posted, they need to be pried off. The higher end pedals have replaceable screw in end caps while even the lowest pedals have some type of pushed in cap. Sounds like a bit of an adventure, either way.

Yes, these are pushed in, albeit in a very pry-resistant manner.

If you destroy the caps a US Nickel is a perfect press-fit and looks rather trick IMO.

:thumb:

Great tip! And it only costs a dime... :)

I like it, but then how does the next overhauler get the nickels out?

Show 'em to a politician. He'll suck 'em out with his teeth.

Heh, you can use a flat head jewler/precision screwdriver to pop them out. Dollar tree has a set of ten for, well, $1

I'm resurrecting this old thread because I've run across the same issue. I have a set of MKS AR-3 pedals that came on my wife's 1987 Raleigh Granada.

I would like to overhaul them but, like jonwvara, I am unsure on how to remove the dust caps, either. Or at least how to remove ithe dustcaps so I could reuse them.

Here are some pics.

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_FfM_jO4_Tm0/TC...I/IMG_4001.JPG

http://lh3.ggpht.com/_FfM_jO4_Tm0/TC...o/IMG_4005.JPG

I suppose you've tried prying them out from the notch on the bottom side. Not working? It would seem that's what the notch is for.

I thought so, too. But when I tried prying on the tab it started to break off. Maybe the caps are so old and brittle that I just need to replace them.

I made a big deal out of not much when I started this thread. The issue was that I couldn't see a way to pry the dust caps out without marring the little tab, which is the obvious place to insert a little screwdriver. And it's true, you CAN'T do it without marring them a tiny bit. But that turns out not to matter. What I finally did was jam a little screwdriver under the tab and pry the caps out. That did leave a little gouged place on the underside of the tab. But I smoothed it out the marred section with a fine file, leaving a very slight undercut (if that makes sense) that looks like it's supposed to be there, assuming anyone looks close enough to see it. That leaves a little wedge-shaped opening to insert the screwdriver into next time you need to service the pedals.
But if the tabs are breaking off, sorry, I can't think of anything that will help. Maybe try the drill-a-hole-and-thread-in-a-screw idea suggested by someone else.

There goes your chance at the Bicycle Concours d'Elegance event. :(