The Chainlink

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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Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 19, 2012 at 5:02pm

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.

Permalink Reply by Michael A on March 19, 2012 at 5:07pm

Some pedals also have an allen hex on the spindle, I have used the correct allen hex on a socket wrench with good results

Permalink Reply by Juan 2-3 or more mi. on March 19, 2012 at 6:26pm

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.

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 19, 2012 at 7:10pm

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

Permalink Reply by Ride it like you stole it on March 19, 2012 at 7:16pm

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.

Permalink Reply by Craig S. on March 19, 2012 at 8:34pm
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?
Permalink Reply by Vondo on March 19, 2012 at 8:47pm

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.

Permalink Reply by Doug Haynes on March 19, 2012 at 10:16pm

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.

Permalink Reply by h' Zerocats on March 20, 2012 at 12:34am

Feel free to bring it by tomorrow night. Should be home after 8 at the latest.

Permalink Reply by A.K.A Paul on March 20, 2012 at 6:11am
Take the crank off and put it in a vice. Then use the pedal wrench.
Permalink Reply by Andrew on March 20, 2012 at 7:34am

None of these suggestions involved my wife standing on the opposite pedal for leverage while we both struggle and get pissy with one another.  Weird!

Permalink Reply by Far'arned Retrogrumpalunkus #63 on March 20, 2012 at 8:03am

Standing on the crank rarely does much good.  The crank needs to be held back solidly by something a little less giving than just a bit of weight.  We are talking about lever arms that can lift 200+ pounds quite easily.

Plus this is just putting way too much torque into the BB shell and the frame -all the way out to the wheels.  If you want your bike to ride nice constant-radius circles when you take your hands off of the bars then this might be a good idea -otherwise maybe think about some system to hold the crank more solidly than just stepping on it.

Simply squeezing the crank against the pedal wrench is VERY effective if the flats on the pedal are aligned so that the wrench can be placed in such a way as to facilitate this.  It works because the force isn't being softened by any moment of the crank.   Short of that a vise works well to hold the crank or using sharp blows bring the force applied up rapidly in a spike to work against the inertia of an object at rest before it can move away. 

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