oldbikenewbike

I read all of the earlier Posts and hoped one would work. None did.

It's a pedal stuck in my Shimano Ultegra crank arm on the left side of the '98 Fuji Team I bought last week. And yes, I know it loosens the opposite way of the right side (which I managed to get off). It wouldn't come off attached to the bottom bracket, so I removed the crank arm. I then:

Soaked it in W-D40.....then a liquid rust remover overnight......then heating it over a gas stove in the kitchen (my wife loved seeing that).....and finally a torch, heated it to the point where I felt heat coming through the oven mitt. NOTHING!

At this point, I guess it's time to buy another crank arm. I give up! The damn thing has beaten me!!.......

fred

Trakhak

Take the bike or crank arm to a bike shop. They'll have the pedal off in 30 seconds.

ColonelJLloyd 

Have you tried leverage? Clamp the arm in a vise with a soft wood on either side to protect it. Use a good pedal wrench and a cheater bar (pipe). You'll get it out or shear something.

23skidoo

If you've got a good bench vise and an old spindle clamp the spindle upright in the vise, slip the crank arm onto the exposed end of the spindle and bolt it just snugly, and then attack the pedal with your wrench/cheater bar combo.

clasher

At the co-op we have an old spindle with a crankarm still on one side... clamp the crank in a vice and put the other crankarm on the other side of the spindle and you can use a pipe over a pedal wrench for massive leverage. This setup has torn threads out of aluminum cranks though, depending on the severity of the galvanic corrosion.

Stealthammer

Freon (canned air - upside down) on the pedal axle and heat on the crank arm.....

Velognome 

Better yet:

1st. 2nd Same amount of fun with less sweat and for woth the $20 to watch it happen, particularly when the spindle shears off!

Seriously, What Colonel said, plus I'd soak it in penetrating oil overnight before attempting the removal.

Yo Spiff

That's what worked for me. I zip tied a steel seatpost to the pedal wrench to get more leverage.

auchencrow

^ Works for me every time. Alloy expands faster than steel.

repechage

I have a set of Campagnolo cranks and pedals that are married to each other. I was sold them for $15 way way back, a shop customer wanted to upgrade to the Superleggra pedals and no amount of effort won, so he bought new cranks and pedals. For me it was not worth attempting to take the pedals off, I service the pedals on the cranks.
They work. Been working for over 35 years.

cudak888 

I removed the pedal from the spindle in the example below, allowing me to clamp the vise jaws to the pedal flats.





-Kurt

Snydermann

In the auto restoration and repair biz I spent half my life unseizing seized parts. Heat and extreme vibration are your friends. Just soaking a part in penetrating oil won't always do the trick. Spray the part with penetrating oil and apply some vibration from a blunt-tipped air chisel. Any auto shop should be able to help you.

After experimenting with dozens of penetrating oils over the years, BY FAR the best is made by ZEP, it's called Zepreserve NC.

I'd clamp and support the arm in a vise and air hammer on the pedal spindle where it exits the back of the crank arm while spraying it with penetrating oil. Clean up the ding you made on the pedal spindle with a file.

Jseis 

The boundary layer and corrission between steel and aluminum form aluminum oxides that are like 50 grit sandpaper lubricating the threads. Expect thread damage and rechase the threads if you get the pedal off.

I would dismantle pedal, ice the spindle and heat the crank. Use as much controlled force such as putting the pedal spindle in a BIG vice and using a cheater on the crank. Controlled force allows you to gauge in a graduated manner if you might succeed. At the limits you could bend the crank, shear the crank, shear the spindle.

A typical hardened steel 9/16-20 thread (typical) is like a head bolt and probably can take 120 ftlbs, maybe 150, over that and it could shear.

Ultimate solution: arc electrode disintegration. Very custom machine shops use that for removing sheared bolts from expensive castings.

oldbikenewbike

Guys, THANKS for the updated ways of doing this!! I'll give them a shot over the long weekend. I HATE being defeated by a piece of stupid metal.

Happy Memorial Day to all!!!!!!

oldbikenewbike

BY The Way.......I tried the crank arm in a wood vise after heating it with a Butane torch. Put the wrench to the pedal and nothing. I'll try Kurt's way also (thanks for the pics!), doing it pedal spindle in the vice and wrenching the crank arm by brute force. Stupid !@#$%^& pedal.....

jsharr

The heat wrench (torch) is your friend here, as others have stated!

noglider 

I know you know that the left pedal goes in reverse, but I just want to make sure you're actually GOING in reverse: Look at Kurt's picture. That's a RIGHT pedal in his vise. When you put your left pedal in, you'll position the crank to your right and pull.

It's possible that they fused from installing it not-tightly-enough. If that's the case, the threads are ruined in the crank. The fact that you can't separate them doesn't matter, because the crank is junk anyway.

gaucho777 

Good luck to you. Be thankful it's not one of the silly Weyless pedals that have no flats on the spindle and require an allen wrench on the back of the spindle for removal. I had a pair seized to a Campy NR crankset. Over the course of a week in and out of penetrating oil, I bent three allen wrenches before I finally got it off.

Jseis 

And a left hand thread tap is like 20$-40$ depending on where you buy it. If the crank is junk, throw the towel in unless your a masochist like me and refuse to let two objects demonstrate "cold fusion".

For all you aluminum junkies, it you live by the sea and don't use anti-seize compound, you are gloriously screwed.

eschlwc

is there a moral to this story? preventative medicine? should pedals be removed every two-five years (when overhauled) and their threads lubed and replaced? or is this just dumb luck?

Jseis 

This is enough for the rest of your life, all your friends and their friends.

dddd

I'm with the folks who recomment heating the crank end with a torch.

Keep in mind that the entire arm is a large heatsink, so an extended period of heating is needed to get the pedal end of the crank up to 400+ degrees F.

Keep track of how long it takes to get the arm up to where a drop of motor oil that is applied to the arm will readily smoke (with the flame removed). This can take quite a while!

Be prepared and fixture the arm such that it doesn't need to be touched once it is really hot. It's good that you have been practicing applying the torque already. This is not an "indoor" job and will produce much nasty fumes. The crank's clear coat my reach the point of discoloration, but if you have not seen this yet, even where the torch was applied, it probably needs a good bit more heating.
Oh, and observe safety precautions all around!

Note that penetrants aren't really part of this scenario, but you could apply some oil to the exposed end of the spindle as it cools down, regardless of whether or not it breaks free (it will).

It's amazing how effectively that a torch applied for five seconds to a spoke nipple can allow breaking it free.

dddd

I routinely apply a drop of motor oil to the exposed end of the pedal spindle when preparing a bike for even minor service service, regardless of whether or not I am planning to remove the pedals at that time. It will penetrate over time. I do the same at the seatpost and stem/steerer junctions, using a few drops of my motor-oil/thinner blend.

But yes, it is a good idea to be somewhat sure that pedal spindle threads are kept "greased", and Jseis' Never-Seez is especially good for this.

RobbieTunes

I've run into that 2-3 times lately with bikes people brought in. 2 of them had the wrenchable surfaces rounded off. We've gotten them out by putting both the Park Tool pedal wrench on and the proper allen wrench, while on the bike, then both of us working at it (after PB Blaster for a few days). Only one time did the chainring cause any significant arm damage, and mine are all beat up, anyway.

However, I still have an old Record or Chorus crank arm with a pedal stuck in it. The pedal has been cut off, and just the wrenchable part is stuck in there. I'm waiting to ride with someone I know has a bench vice, then I'll try Kurt's method.

I use a very thin washer on my pedals, and while theoretically it may not make a difference, I've not had any of mine get stuck, so I'll stick to my superstition.

Snydermann

Seriously, this is the stuff to use. In my opinion anything else (oil, grease, spit) is better than nothing, but not as good as a real Never Seez. I don't know why it isn't more universally adopted by bicycle mechanics like it is in the automotive industry. I restored and repaired cars and would use Never Seez in extremely corrosive areas (like exhaust system bolts) and a decade later the parts could still be removed.

If it will allow a long-life spark plug to be removed after 100,000 miles, I'm sure it will last forever on any bicycle components.