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I was very fortunate to come across a useable set of Bob Reedy Ultimate pedals (a huge thanks to one of the members right here on this site). They certainly were not show ready, but the price was fair. Here is where they began: The cages were squished in and looked more like KKTs than Reedys. Most of the screws were stripped and stuck, the spindles had a thick layer of rust and grime + the allen cap screws were stripped and stuck, the cages were badly gouged, and the bodies were tarnished. One thing I learned from Tim is this - if you need to fix a part, tread lightly so not to damage the things that make it unique, rare and of value. A while ago, there was a posted photo of a set of "restored" Reedy pedals. They were polished beyond recognition. Without holding them in hand, I cannot truly say if they needed to be taken to this level, but I wanted to avoid that route. The first thing I had to do is drill -out the cage screws. They are teeny-tiny, and required a lot of care so that the threaded body would not get damaged. I must have drilled out more than half of the 16 little buggers. Next, I drilled the spindle's button head screws and used an easy-out to get them off. With the hardware removed, a punh and a hammer allowed me to take out the spindles and the bearings. The bodies were the easiest to bring back to life., They still had the centerline crest, so all it took was some extra fine steel wool to get all the tarnish off them. The spindles were prett rusty, but I did not want to use media blasting. I soaked them in brake cleaner to get the grime off. Next, I inserted them into the chuck of a drill and ran the drill while pressing steel wool against the rusty surface. I used WD40 as a lubricant. The cool thing is that I was able to maintain the original production tool marks on the shaft. Finnally, the cages. Thanks to the suggestion of our own Tone, I bought a section of PVC pipe and re-formed the cage ends with a bodywork hammer. The original shape came back. The final step was getting the skuffs and gouges out of them. Using a fine file and sandpaper on a sanding block, I brought the surface back to around 90% of it's original glory. I finished them off with steel wool and running water. Here is the end result: Not too shabby! These are not 100 percent perfect. They never will be. I felt it was better to not over-do it, and let some of the original use be evident. It is unrealistic to expect these to look like NOS parts, and it can be taken too far. So, I did a mild restoration on them and the results are better than I hoped for. They are not installed yet. I am trying to decide if I want them on my Cook Bros, or the early Robinson.
