Pedals won't budge

WiltshireWanderer
WiltshireWanderer Posts: 7
edited September 2017 in Workshop
I am trying to remove the flat pedals on my hybrid for the first time

I have a Park Tool Pro PW4 pedal wrench and have applied as much force as I can muster and can't get any movement

Any tips?

Comments

  • sungod
    sungod Posts: 16,559
    1 are you ***sure*** you're turning it the right direction
    2 if you are, try harder - with crank pointing forwards, position wrench on pedal so that end of wrench is even further forward and braced against the ground, stand on pedal - be careful, once it releases things move very fast
    my bike - faster than god's and twice as shiny
  • Korhag
    Korhag Posts: 77
    1. Give it good coating of WD40 or some penetrating fluid.
    2. Remove the crank from the BB and get a manual impact driver and give it a few hits on the bolt that is seemingly too tight, using a lump hammer.
    3. Put crank in vice, with access to pedal and then hammer the wrench in the direction you need to remove, using a lump hammer. This will hopfeully dislodge the pedal bolt from the thread.
    4. Profit! (hopefully)
  • Baron Greenback
    Baron Greenback Posts: 128
    I'm not certain you should need to remove the crank. You can get a lot of force on a pedal spanner.

    As sungod said, ensure you are turning the right direction. The left pedal is a reverse thread.

    When you reassemble, it might be worth using some anti-seize paste.
  • Matthewfalle
    Matthewfalle Posts: 17,380
    Leverage my son, leverage.

    Stick a lever on the end of the pedal wrench.

    Alternatively, some pedals have an Allen key slot thing on the back - find suitably big Allen key and off you go.
    Postby team47b » Sun Jun 28, 2015 11:53 am

    De Sisti wrote:
    This is one of the silliest threads I've come across. :lol:

    Recognition at last Matthew, well done!, a justified honour :D
    smithy21 wrote:

    He's right you know.
  • cougie
    cougie Posts: 22,512
    Clockwise left

    Anticlockwise right

    Extra leverage might help. Bit of aluminium tubing over the spanner. ( Garden rake or mop handle etc)
  • dee4life2005
    dee4life2005 Posts: 773
    Before doing anything, stick your chain on the big cog at the front.
    If things suddenly let go, or you slip, you really dont want to be running your leg / hand / arm down the chainring teeth. Still smarts if you do it with the chain on the big cog, but at least you wont have the nasty gash that would usually result.
    http://app.strava.com/athletes/307297
  • crankycrank
    crankycrank Posts: 1,830
    Assuming your cranks are alu try pouring some boiling water on the crank around where the pedal threads in. The expansion from heat may help just enough to get it to come loose. If you can recruit another person to sit on the bike with brakes on and foot on the opposite pedal it makes things a little easier as well.
  • StillGoing
    StillGoing Posts: 5,211
    Sometimes, you do need to remove the crank arm for more stable leverage. Unless you like grazed knuckles? There are occasions when a seized pedal won't budge without heat being applied no matter how big a lever extension you put on. Take the crank arm with the seized pedal to your local garage or LBS and ask them to apply some heat while giving the pedal wrench a few good whacks with a hammer. Had a similar situation with someone's hybrid where they wanted to swap the pedals onto their new road bike. Left hand one was seized solid. Fortunately for them, the crankset on the hybrid was of better quality than the road bike, so the job was made easy by simply switching the cranksets. They got what pedals they wanted on which bike and didn't run the risk of damaging anything until they really want that pedal off.
    I ride a bike. Doesn't make me green or a tree hugger. I drive a car too.
  • fat daddy
    fat daddy Posts: 2,605
    I favour the hammer !!!

    get the pedal spanner on and give the end of the spanner a few hard wacks with a plastic/rubber mallet .... the jarring shocks acts like a ratchet driver and the pedal releases

    oh wear gloves ... as the other have said, when they let go you normally end up slamming you hand into the floor/chainring, the wife etc etc
  • seanoconn
    seanoconn Posts: 11,428
    + 1 for gloves, for anything that requires force.
    Pinno, מלך אידיוט וחרא מכונאי
  • bbrap
    bbrap Posts: 610
    If there is an allen key hole and you know someone with a compressor and air impact gun it will come off in seconds. local garage (not petrol station) will be able to loosen it for you if you ask nicely.
    Rose Xeon CDX 3100, Ultegra Di2 disc (nice weather)
    Ribble Gran Fondo, Campagnolo Centaur (winter bike)
    Van Raam 'O' Pair
    Land Rover (really nasty weather :lol: )
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    My new favourite toy is a cordless impact driver. That's great for persuading things undone. Useless if all you have is flats for a pedal spanner, but worth a go if you have a hex in the end of the pedal spindle.
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    And although it's too late in this instance, I'd echo the comments above about antiseize. I always fit new pedals with a good coating of copperslip, and I'll take pedals off a new bike to do the same. Just to be certain I'll whip them off and reapply every year or so. Never had a pedal I couldn't remove despite year round, all weather cycling.
  • homers_double
    homers_double Posts: 8,030
    bbrap wrote:
    If there is an allen key hole and you know someone with a compressor and air impact gun it will come off in seconds. local garage (not petrol station) will be able to loosen it for you if you ask nicely.

    You know what, I've never thought of that but yes an impact driver (if you have one) will sort it. Just make sure you are 100% on the thread direction.

    Oh and use copper slip next time. I've not had a pedal seize in years.
    Advocate of disc brakes.
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    Just make sure you use an impact rated bit!
  • Davebo777
    Davebo777 Posts: 44
    I ended up heating the crank with a blowtorch, I think it expanded AND softened the 40 year old gunk.
  • CiB
    CiB Posts: 6,098
    Agree with leverage being the answer, and a bit of shock treatment with a hammer or a well-aimed stampy foot where possible. The other thing when reassembling is to use a bit of grease or copperslip, but also don't do them up grunt-tight when you put them back. The l/h & r/h thread is because pedals naturally wind themselves in, so they don't need to be gorilla-tight. Just nipping them up is enough and when you want to get them off 6 months later they come off v easily.
  • dennisn
    dennisn Posts: 10,601
    Breaker bar and or mallet.
  • WiltshireWanderer
    WiltshireWanderer Posts: 7
    Got them off and clipped in for the first time :)

    It turns out the answer to most things in life is push harder
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    WiltshireWanderer wrote:
    Got them off and clipped in for the first time :)

    It turns out the answer to most things in life is push harder

    Except in my son's case. Found him in the garage standing on the pedal spanner in an attempt to remove the flat pedals his new bike had come equipped with. And he's quite a solid, muscular lad. Luckily all he'd managed to mangle was the spanner itself. I then pointed out that the left pedal is reverse threaded... :D

    Glad you got it sorted in the end!

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