I would be very grateful for any advice on removing a stuck ball bearing from one of my pillion footpegs, photo below.
Its job is to keep the footpeg in the “up” position. It has a spring on the other side.
Since dropping the bike on a friend’s uneven driveway last week the ball has become stuck inside and is refusing to come out. It’s very odd as the spring should just push it out. If the spring was broken it should just drop out. There’s nothing visibly obvious keeping it in there.
I have tried soaking it in WD40, pushing it in with a screwdriver to coax it out (there’s about half a millimetre of movement inwards), freezing the ball to shrink it, freezing the whole thing, freezing then using boiling water (to heat the surface and remove ice), strong magnets, and (as you can see) bashing it with a hammer against a stone.
Have you tried sucking it out? Maybe try fashioning an attachment for a hoover. Put an old pair of tights or something similar over the end first though so it doesn’t end up inside it.
:w00t: well I may try getting it sucked out depending on how powerful the sucker is, not sure if it will be more powerful than the magnet/hammer solutions though. Thanks for the suggestion, CjKit.
Replacement of the whole peg is a last resort, loathe to get rid of this one just because of a stuck ball. Will probably end up drilling it out and replacing the ball and probably the spring as well but will be difficult to drill it without damaging the soft aluminium around it.
I wouldn’t order it from CMSNL as they’re based in the Netherlands and the delivery charges are a bit high. Their prices are usually just the manufacturer’s prices anyway so I’d just take the part number to your local dealer and order it through them. That’s what I do for my Honda parts and it’s always been the same price or less, and no delivery costs.
I would use my welder and try to stick a 2.5 mm arc rod to it . If that didn’t work all that would be left is to chuck it in the scrap bucket and buy a new one .
I would run the point of a stanley knife round the diameter of the ball, de-burring the alloy around the ball until it popped free. Ball is tough stainless, but those pegs are made of cheese. Ten minutes, a couple of stanley blades and some patience…
I had to buy a new peg from Metropolis after I snapped one off (left the disc lock on, rode off, fell over - bike was 3 weeks old). It only cost 10 or 15 quid and I went to my local bicycle shop who were kind enough to give me a suitably sized ball bearing for free.
Thanks for the advice. I broke a tiny precision screwdriver doing this then getting desperate and trying to prise the ball out, not what the screwdriver was designed for. I then tried it with various Swiss Army Knife blades.
Thanks for the other suggestions, will try those in time. Thankfully as most of my riding is two-up there’s no major urgency so will have another try in the next couple of weeks, otherwise will just pick up a replacement at Metropolis.
