You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
The pedal on my city rat bike is creaking like mad.
It's lived outside for four years and the chain gets a dab of thick oil every now and then.
One of the pedals has started creaking like crazy (at least I think its the pedal might be the crank/BB) and it's annoying.
Tried to remove pedal last week, but no luck. Squirmed some penetrating oil all over it and left it.
Tried again just now and have snapped a spanner and an allen key.
Anything else I can try?
Are you turning it the right way?
You could try some heat and/or a large bar to add some leverage to the spanner
Yup, definitely turning it the right way .....
Have changed enough pedals in my time.
Was just in too much of a rush getting the bike built up to bother with greasing the threads.
Heat it up slightly with a blow torch or hot air gun. Usually the aluminium crank expands much quicker than the steal pedal axle and then unscrews easily.
Note - It doesn't need a lot of heat
Tom
With my last stuck pedal I used a heat gun on the crank, then a meaty spanner with a bar & it came right off.
A kettle of hot water is my choice of heat, and if you are a ninja grade mechanic there’s a cuppa available at the same time.
Will give that a go tomorrow at work.... Cheers!
Did you grease threads when installing?
Do both pedal and crank need to be saved? If one is to be written off then it gets a lot easier
Then it's time for the monster-pipe-wrench...
Between pedal and crank there is - hopefully - some space to grab the pedal-axle.
Heating up the crank (when the crank is made from aluminium) will help.
You've snapped a 15mm spanner?!
Did you grease threads when installing?
hahahaha, this made me chuckle... possibly the worst advice/post/question ever on the entire internet.
A little tip if it's the drive side pedal: put some rags over the chainring so when it moves suddenly, you don't get an oily chainring knuckle stab tattoo. Learnt that one the hard way.
Last time I removed a very stuck pedal it took a big pedal spanner, a vice and removing the crank.
After lots of wd40
Take the crank off bike, wedge the crank arm and the pedal spanner in the vice and then tighten the vice - applies way more force than I could.
Hit it with a hammer? I've got a big rubber mallet for stubborn pedals
I've always found proper pedal spanners are much better than regular spanners. If you can fit a big adjustable spanner in there and wind it closed good and tight, they have much stronger jaws so are less likely to round it off (this does not apply to small adjustable spanners, only big ones with heavy jaws). If you try using a hex wrench, a 1/2 inch drive powerbar with a hex bit on the end is much better than a regular Allen key because it won't flex as much.
I've also got a stubborn pedal. It's hiding. I think it's attached to part of a snapped LX crank. probably in the garage, but might be in the shed.