# Seized Pedal Bearing on 1955 Schwinn Tandem



## Kuyenda (Jun 5, 2010)

I have a 1955 Schwinn Tandem (Model T-5 or Town and Country). The bearings in one of the pedals have seized and I am wondering how to repair it.





The bearings nearest the crank are fine. It's the bearings (I assume there are bearings in there, although I have not seen them) in the outer cup (in the left side of the image) that are problematic.

There is a small bearing cup or cover on the inside of the pedal at the left end of the shaft cover that appears to be sticking to the bearings and rotating with them. It fits snugly inside the bulge on the left outside housing of the pedal so there is no way to grease those bearings.

The pedal appears to be held together by the two pins that thread through the blocks. The pin is mushroomed like a rivet over the nut on the right outside of the pedal to prevent the nut from coming off.

Has anyone ever taken one of these pedals apart? Is there a better way to repair the end bearings without disassembling the pedal?

Thanks!


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## Kuyenda (Jun 6, 2010)

*Pedal Disassembed*

I found out that the pedal I have is the Schwinn Approved #57505. It is manufactured by Union of Germany. I got the information from the Speedplay Pedal History Museum.

I decided to disassemble the pedal. To do so I had to grind off the end of the pins that that hold the blocks in place.




Doing so revealed that the end bearings had completely failed. You can see in the following picture how the cone is not in the center of the bearing cup and the bearings are out of place. One bearing had been mashed completely.




Hoping I could salvage the pedal, or parts of it, I ground out the the top of the axle where it was stamped to keep it together with the cone. The following picture shows the axle completely dissasembled with the bearings and axle cover.




Sadly, I don't know how I would repair this pedal since it was not designed to be serviced. I guess my next post will be in the Buy - Sell - Trade section.

Hopefully this information will help someone in the future.

Thanks!


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