Has anyone considered the shapes of the washer tooth and keyway in the success of this design? While servicing pedals, where it\u2019s difficult to hold the cone while removing the retaining nut, I\u2019ve found the cone, washer, and retaining nut frozen together. With enough force the washer tooth rides over the threads with all three backing off the axle together, damaging the threads in the process. On examining the washer it appeared to be punch pressed of soft metal with the tooth too short and edges rounded. The keyway was cut very shallow. I haven\u2019t had this problem where two good wrenches can be applied, with a liberal use of penetrating oil and heat. With my limited experience, I\u2019m not qualified to opine which is the best design, with or without keyways and washer teeth. I\u2019ll leave that to the engineers and those who\u2019ve worked on hundreds more bikes than I have. It does seem to me that poorly cut keyways and washer teeth are worse than none. My $0.02
George Jones Dallas, TX