How To Overhaul Vintage Schwinn/Atom 440 Bike Pedals - Clean/Lube/New Bearings 

Bikes like this have one bad thing when it comes to being almost new from sitting in storage for decades. The grease goes bad. Someone could of rode it with bad grease which is about the same as riding it with no grease after it sat in storage. So for people buying a bike that is almost new, always check the pedals and wheel bearings by spinning the rims and pedals to be sure the bearings, races, and cones are just as excellent as the rest of the bike. You could be buying a bike with damaged parts that are also parts that are very hard to find.

My Atom 600 pedals were fitted with 10 bearings outboard and 11 inboard. The original ones were in perfectly good shape, so I reused them. Had this been a wheel or a bottom bracket, I'd have acquired new ones. Honestly, though, the pedals were fine before the overhaul. I only overhauled them for the learning experience.

Use grease for the bearings. Not oil.

Use grease, never oil on pedal bearings.

Exactly. It keeps the strap from sliding .

Sorry, I don't know those pedals. For pedals with all metal stuff, I use marine grease. If there are plastic parts, I use silicone grease.

If the spindle is bent, replace the peddle. Unless the the other peddle is the same, the spindle probably wont be.

As it turned out the pedals were for 9/16” and I managed to find a crappy old set that actually had 1/2” SR branded spindles in them that matched up perfectly. Just dumb luck that I had them.

You want them to turn smooth, not necessarily spin freely.

@@RJTheBikeGuy Thanks, I will consider tightening the cones a little more. They just have the slightest give when I wiggle the axle. I just didn't know if they should have no wiggle at all?

There is a fine line between turning smoothly and no play.

A tiny bit of play is allowed, because the spindle bends a little when the rider puts pressure on the pedal.

Yup,,, my method also.

Different pedal. I would have to work on it to tell you.

@@RJTheBikeGuy I discovered the reason why the dust cap was not removable. I cut that part with an angle grinder and I found no bolt, the cone was riveted. I would like to show you the image.

So I took other old pedals to re-use the spindles, and the locknut is half screwed in the axis, half is out of the axis. I think it is bad, right? The torque could shell the tread.

@@damianomartucci9814 Probably just replace the pedals.

@@RJTheBikeGuy I solved. I used 1/8 in bearings. Yes, I should. But I would like to maintain originality

+Dominic Fortin Does yours not have a keyed washer between the cone and the lock nut?

No , no washer only the cône and nut.

Are you overhauling the same pedal as in my video? In that one, there was a keyed washer that separated the cone and lock nut.

no its a wellgo pedal but the mechanism is the same. Went to a bike shop today and the mechanic couldn't help me out..... lol

You will have to find a way to hold the cone while you tighten the lock nut.