Someone give me the secret tip for removing super tight pedals!
I've got my pedal wrench, I know the left pedal is reverse thread, tried holding the opposite pedal down with my foot, but I can't get them off. These are the ones that the shop installed when I got the bike so I would think they greased them and didn't cross-thread them. Incidentally, these are the pedals that I'm blaming for my 2mph fall at MM Saturday night.
So, what's the trick to getting them off? I can't seem to generate enough leverage, don't want to round off the flats on the pedal or the wrench.
Help!
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John W. on -
I use a hammer on the pedal wrench to loosen it up. Usually, just some slight tapping does the trick. Or, line up the pedal wrench close to the crank arm and pull the arm with your fingers as you push down on the wrench with your palm. (way easier to do than read)
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Permalink Reply by James BlackHeron on -
Make sure you are turning it the correct way -you seem to have that one down.
What I do it put the pedal wrench so that it is just in front of the crank and grab both the pedal wrench and the crank at the same time with my super-strong mason death-grip and this has never failed me as long as the wrench flats line up so that this works. -it seems if you flip the wrench around you can get this to work about half of the time.
The times you can't squeeze between the crank and the wrench I hit the wrench with the palm of my hand. A couple of sharp karate chops usually gets it. If this fails I get out my 2lb rubber mallet and pound on the wrench while holding both the wrench and the crank so that they don't flop around as I swing the hammer.
I've never had an issue using these techniques. I do a lot of work on old Raleighs that often have the same original pedals that were put on in Nottingham England when most people on the Chainlink's parents were still in elementary school -or even before. Some of them are really on there but if you have a decent pedal wrench and use these techniques they always come off.
When putting a new pedal on use grease or tiny dab of anti-seize so the next person doesn't have to struggle.
This is the pedal wrench I have. It's not very expensive but has withstood a hundred pedal changes -some of them were really on there. Don't bother trying to take off pedals unless you have a real pedal wrench.
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Permalink Reply by Michael A on -
Some pedals also have an allen hex on the spindle, I have used the correct allen hex on a socket wrench with good results
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Permalink Reply by Juan 2-8 mi. on
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You might need to soak the pedal and the crank arm hole with liquid wrench overnight. Then try again. It usually does the trick with stuck pedals if they have been exposed to salt and water repeatedly.
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Permalink Reply by James BlackHeron on
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Never had to resort to this on pedals -but I've needed it on a few other stuck fasteners.
MAPP gas is much faster than lowly propane :-D
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Permalink Reply by Ride it like you stole it on -
I do the same as James.. If the flat is near the crank arm, do the old death grip.. I little WD-40 never hurts either. Idk what kind of pedals you are using, but if they have the wider flat on them, like cheap platforms, a good pair of vice grips can go a long way.
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Permalink Reply by Craig S. on -
I do like Michael A does but with a 24 inch piece of pipe I bought at the hardware store. The cheater bar on the socket handle ensures that I use very lite pressure at the end to loosen and tighten any pedals. Why should I expend energy when leverage is cheap and easy?
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Permalink Reply by Vondo on -
Thanks for the tips guys. I tried the hex bolt on the spindle but all I had was a regular allen key, no way that was going to loosen it. Tomorrow I will try see if I can track down the right allen socket and try that with the cheater bar.
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Permalink Reply by notoriousDUG on -
Soak it with penetrating oil and us ea long wrench to get leverage.
If they are really stuck I will set the bike on the floor and then set the cranks so that me pressing down on the wrench is pushing on the pedal in a motion that locks the crank arm in place; it is easier to demonstrate than describe...
A lot of it is just getting the right angle on it so you can get good force to it.
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Permalink Reply by h' 1.0 on -
Feel free to bring it by tomorrow night. Should be home after 8 at the latest.
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Permalink Reply by A.K.A Paul on -
Take the crank off and put it in a vice. Then use the pedal wrench.
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