Bicycle Mechanics - Removing a "frozen" pedal

I have a pedal that is frozen in place. I know that it was not cross-threaded and I used some high-viscosity oil when attaching the pedal to my crank. I had difficulty removing the other pedal, but it did come lose eventually.

I am not trying to turn it the wrong way. It is the drive side pedal and unscrews CCW.

Can I heat the crank with a torch without damaging the crank arm?

Other suggestions?

Thanks!

Heat the crank by pouring boiling water over it as you try and unscrew the pedal. This should be enough to expand the crank without any heat treatment affects on the aluminum. If you need a bit more temperature you can mix the water in the kettle with automotive antifreeze, but you will have to do some serious cleaning of the kettle before you use it to make yourself a cup of coffee.

My God, I've just spent an hour with my brother trying to get my old SPD pedals off my hybrid to put them on my new racebike.... first came off easy, the other took an hour. Everything hurts. I killed two quality spanners. My arms don't work anymore. I hurt CHEST muscles, BACK muscles, ARM muscles. Eventually, an adjustable spanner and turning the bike upside down and screaming a lot worked.

And the replacement pedals I bought for him don't fit, too small.... he ain't happy.

What a pain in the arse.

I keep an old piece of exhaust pipe (well, old but never used as exhaust pipe) and an old piece of steel vacuum cleaner hose (the rigid part, from a canister vac) in my tool box. Great for sliding over the end of just about any spanner, wrench, breaker bar, etc., to boost the ol' mechanical advantage. Still, some gentle heat would be a good idea; too much leverage and you might just bust something.

Yeah, leverage is good. . .I have an old Ti handlebar that fits perfectly over the end of my 3/8 ratchet.

A good whack on the wrench with a deadblow hammer might break it loose as well.

Allow some Liquid Wrench to soak into the treads overnight-this stuff is far better than WD-40. If the threaded part of the pedal is aluminum-which I doubt, then instead pour some ammonia on instead this will dissolve the corrosion that fused the two metals together.

put the wrench on it and beat the **** outta it with a hammer, comes off easy

Yeah, leverage is good. . .I have an old Ti handlebar that fits perfectly over the end of my 3/8 ratchet.

A good whack on the wrench with a deadblow hammer might break it loose as well.

Just make sure you don't hit your partner in the head with the back swing. He's liable to poke you in the eye.

Cross threading would not do this, pedals always have steel shafts, (excepting the
rare Ti shafts) and chew the Al threads horribly if cross threaded resulting in the
pedal getting loose and demolishing the crank. Al conducts heat so much better
than steel that it should expand rapidly with the boiling water, just use gloves when
you apply the wrench. Park type pedal wrenches placed at a small angle l
to the crank allows a lot of torque by squeezing the crank and wrench together. You
may have to remove the large ring for clearance. If the wrench is above the pedal
stepping on the wrench and bouncing a bit will get you well over 100 ftlbs of torque
depending on your weight. Steve

When you put the new pedals on, use GREASE not oil on the threads. Even a thick oil will leak out through capillary action. A good waterproof grease will stay put.