Removing Pedals

[destrago]

I'm getting my garage of bikes reconfigured for their new roles this summer. Key among that is trading the plaform/spd pedals between two bikes. I've got 3/4 of the pedals off. The last one, however simply will _NOT_ budge. I've made two separate attempts to remove it and it has become a multiple swearword job. Any advice from you seasoned mechs out there as to how to get this thing out? Oh, and this is a total cheapie stock pedal that doesn't have an alan-wrench socket in the back.

-Tony

[DmacBmac]

[quote=destrago;276532]I'm getting my garage of bikes reconfigured for their new roles this summer. Key among that is trading the plaform/spd pedals between two bikes. I've got 3/4 of the pedals off. The last one, however simply will _NOT_ budge. I've made two separate attempts to remove it and it has become a multiple swearword job. Any advice from you seasoned mechs out there as to how to get this thing out? Oh, and this is a total cheapie stock pedal that doesn't have an alan-wrench socket in the back.

Drill out the hole just enough to leave the threads. Then use a sharpened object to pick the remaining material out of the hole.

[MisterClaw]

Any advice from you seasoned mechs out there as to how to get this thing out?


-Tony
You could slip a length of pipe over the end of your pedal wrench for more leverage.

[lostboy]

PB Blaster. It's mostly used on autos but it gets in the threads and breaks down the rust and allows them to move. Spray some on, let is soak for a few hours or over night and the next morning it should be good.

I have used this several times on vehicles when I couldn't budge a bolt with a lot of leverage and I was affraid of snapping the head off. Now I just spray them all down before even trying.

Just make sure not to get it anywhere else than where you need it.

[4Screws]

same as with taking the 14mm bolts out of the CT-90s when the get stuck. Just use some leverage.
The Park PW4 works pretty well if you slide a cheater bar over the end. You can also put something over the crank arm on the other side (i use a pump tube) to get some leverage on the crank arm. Only one I ever had that I couldn't get undone was an old set of steel coda cranks that needed a machine shops help. Don't ask why he still wanted them after all that.

If you don't want to keep the cranks or just want to keep the pedals, heat the crap out of the crank with a torch.

[Don Youngdahl]

If the usual repeated penetrating oil spray & wait treatments don't work, take the crank & pedal off the bike and immerse it overnight in a bucket of Kano Kroil, Marvel Mystery Oil, or other penetrating oil available in bulk.

The, of course, put it in a vise and use the biggest lever you can apply on the wrench.

[4Screws]

ha.. we snapped a crank arm like that one time..

[Don Youngdahl]

Another useful trick is to rap sharply on the end of the pedal shaft, using a drift or large bolt. This works better in a vise, but can be done on the bike.

Perhaps most important, stick your tounge out a bit, purse your lips, clench your teet, or use whatever facial expressions come naturally to you. My dad always told me that for any difficult manual task, "ya gotta hold your mouth right".

[OCary]

Penetrating oil and a torch. Even heating without 'heating the crap out of it' helps sometimes.

A side note about using cheater bars. I was removing chainring bolts the other day on some old crankarms and I stripped the metal out of the crank arm. Threads were seized and I ripped out a bunch of the threads. I thought I was going to do the same when the pedals were both stuck; luckily that did not happen. Using a cheater bar increases the likely hood of dramatic failure.

Cutting off, and drilling out I would consider a last resort. Although I did this when my derailleur bolt stripped. I've got a sawzall and wouldn't mind pick up some reverse thread bits and helping out if it comes to this. (Obviously, this would ruin the pedal but hopefully save the arm)

Although, if something gets royally hosed, that just means you have to get some shiny new gear, right?

[Danimal]

Make sure you're turning it the right way bubby :) One goes the other direction ya now.

[batjerk]

If you cannot get it to budge loosening it, try tightening it.

Countless are the times I've freed stuck fasteners by giving a wrench a sharp rap with a hammer in the tightening direction, followed by one loosening. Actually, I cannot think of a time when this has failed me.

Also, I took a regular 15mm open end wrench and ground it down a little just for this task. Regular cone wrenches are too thin IMO and get damaged this way. Don't whack your "good" wrenches with a hammer. Use a cheap-o one instead. Probably a good idea to use a dead-blow hammer if you've got one, or a soft-faced mallet. Short of that, wood works. Personally, I just smack metal to metal.:banghead:

[batjerk]

Make sure you're turning it the right way bubby :) One goes the other direction ya now.
With 3 of 4 removed, I'd say the chances are pretty good he's going the right way.

[Ish]

Grab another beer and swear more. If that fails, switch to Tequila.

[Paul Swenson]

Grab another beer and swear more. If that fails, switch to Tequila.

Tequila's good because you can use it on your scraped knuckles as a disinfectant.

[destrago]

With 3 of 4 removed, I'd say the chances are pretty good he's going the right way.

That's why I posted that - I do know which direction to turn it, just not able to friggen do it! I'm not entirely sure it's not because I'm weak (currently have one arm still recovering from MTB related bone breakage).

Unfortunately I have no vise and the crank arms are crap too but I don't want to replace them (this bike is turning into my wife's commuter, so I'm gonna let parts die natural deaths if possible). I'd also like to keep the pedals, just to have a spare set if needed. I have tried the -tighten then loosen- trick to no avail. Thanks for the advice everyone. In order I'm going to:

a. Try to get more leverage with pipe or something similar
b. Try PB Blaster or other penetrating lubricant (other than KY)
c. Cry and Drink Beer
d. Go destructive and possibly call in Neil with the sawsall and drill.
e. Did someone say beer.
f. Buy my wife an XT crankset and be done with it.

-Tony

[MisterClaw]

Using a cheater bar increases the likely hood of dramatic failure.

That's the reason I actually recommended using one! :crazy: It's not wrenching until you bleed.

[destrago]

That's the reason I actually recommended using one! :crazy: It's not wrenching until you bleed.

Oh good, this coming from a guy all too familiar with my tendancy to injure myself at the simplest of tasks.

-Tony

[destrago]

Pedal removed. Just needed a few more newtons of force. Cheater pipe did the trick and did not end in catastrophic failure. Pedal, crank arm, and Tony survived the operation. Thanks guys.

-tony

[samh]

...Make sure you're turning it the right way bubby One goes the other direction ya now.

I'm having the same trouble as the original poster. To top it off I'm not entirely positive which way each pedal is supposed to be turned. I've just been trying to wrench on each one both ways hoping to make some progress tighter or looser.

I soaked the pedals in some chemicals and they've been sitting for two days so hopefully tonight I can make more progress. This is a bike I consider to be classic ('62 Schwinn Superior) and I'm not sure how easy finding a new one-piece crank set for it will be so bending it is not an option to me.

So, which pedal loosens regular (i.e. righty-tighty, lefty-loosey) and which is opposite?

[OCary]

I'm having the same trouble as the original poster. To top it off I'm not entirely positive which way each pedal is supposed to be turned. I've just been trying to wrench on each one both ways hoping to make some progress tighter or looser.

I soaked the pedals in some chemicals and they've been sitting for two days so hopefully tonight I can make more progress. This is a bike I consider to be classic ('62 Schwinn Superior) and I'm not sure how easy finding a new one-piece crank set for it will be so bending it is not an option to me.

So, which pedal loosens regular (i.e. righty-tighty, lefty-loosey) and which is opposite?


On modern crank-arms, the left side is reverse threaded, and the right side is threaded normal. On a '62, I cannot be sure.

Right side - counter clockwise to loosen.
Left side - clockwise to loosen.

More here:
http://www.jimlangley.net/wrench/pedalbasics.html

[manual63]

This brings up a funny story while I was working at TC BMX in the 90's.

Most inexpensive BMX bikes came with steel 1 piece cranks. This kid brought in his bike and just wanted new pedals on his lower end bike. It looked like it had sat outside all winter, or maybe many winters, and right away I was a bit worried. So I told the kid it would be a couple of days since we had other repairs in front of his. He was fine with that so he left his bike in for service.

When we got to the bike we simply tried removing the pedals with a Park Tool pedal wrench (they are fairly long to start with). No go. So we put on the cheater bar (fit right over the handle of the pedal wrench) and tried again. This is when we started spraying some sort of anti-seize lube into the threaded area. The bike stand was too wobbly at this point to get good leverage. So we took the wheels off so we could put the crank arm into the large vice we had. Two of us had our feet propped up on the workbench while we tried to loosen the pedal.

What happened next was amazing. We both decided to give it one last shot before resulting to calling the customer and telling them they needed a new crank, then braking out the hacksaw. So we both propped our feet onto the workbench and did the old.....1....2....3.....pull! Suddenly we both heard a loud BAM! and fell backwards into the tool wall on the other side (it was a narrow area)......then we heard another BAM! all the way across the shop by the register. Laughing our asses off, we started to realize that one side of the vice just sheered off and shot across the shop. This was about a 10 pound chunk of metal. I was glad no one was in it's path, that's for sure.

In the end, we called, hacksawed, and the kid got a new crank. A sticker on the bike frame had another shop name on it from where the bike was purchased (It was a Dyno VFR). We wondered if that shop put lube on the threads before they installed the pedals. We may never know, but make sure you do this before you install pedals, especially if you bolt steel to steel.