Tightest pedals ever.
 

I can't get my pedals loosened for the life of me. They are standard rat traps. The only place I can get a wrench on is in the space between the pedal and the crank. There is no nut on the end of the pedal. I tried going both ways with the wrench and it didn't budge. Am I doing something wrong?

Thanks!

Colin

There are flats on the pedal spindles right next to the crank. Forget "righty tighty, lefty loosy" on pedals, the left one is reverse threaded. It's easy to remember which way to turn the wrench this way:
1) Move the crank so that it is parallel to the ground and pointing toward the front wheel.
2) Put the wrench on the flats so that it is pointing back to the rear of the bike and slightly angled up from the crank.
3) Pull the wrench down towards the crank arm using the arm for leverage.

This works on both sides. If they are just too tight, use a pedal wrench or a long open ended wrench of the correct size. (Usually 15mm.)

If they still won't budge, try some penetrating oil over night.

If you still can't move them, buy a new bike. :)

When taking off pedals, the wrench should be turning towards the front of the bike (passing over the top position). As far as the stuck pedals, they are probably corroded, which means they may not have had enough or any grease on them. Take the crank arms off if you can. You can soak the area in Coca-Cola for awhile. Seriously. Coke will completely dissolve a screw after a day. Check it every hour to see if it will come loose.

Wrong.

A 5 pound hammer on the wrench handle has never failed me. Has saved buying lots of new bikes. I never put em on too thight or without grease....honest! But there must be lot of gorillas with cheater bars installing them somewhere.

Incredibly wrong.

See how utterly useless making a post like that is? Next time, if you believe someone to be wrond, say why.

Had to throw a right hand crank to the dump many years back, I bent a 12" adjsutable wrench on the damn sucker. Never tried the Coca method, tho. So the good news is: there is a lesser step than changing the bike. Change the crank.

Your original post gave wrong direction for unscrewing the pedals. It's tighten with forward pedal, loosen with back pedaling. That's so a seizing pedal bearing won't unscrew the pedal. Had it in an old bike (remember those pedals with the pivot point above the pedal floor, with big threads?): Those used to be identical left/right, so I had one unscrew because of a tight bearing.

If the pedal wrench is sticking straight up from the pedal, you turn it towards the rear of the bike. The left pedal has a left hand thread, the right pedal has a right hand thread.

Read what halfspeed had to say. He had it right. No point in writing the book on it for you again. If you are going to give 'advice', try to be correct.

Ugh. I can never keep the direction straight. It's a wonder I ever get pedals changed.

^you got pwned


(insert vicious teenaged computer rhetoric)

I assume you do that with the cranks off the bike. That's a lot of force to be applying to a frame, bottom bracket and BB shell.

You can also apply heat to the seized parts. Thanks to the difference in relative thermal expansion between Al and steel, this can help to break the unwelcome bond that formed between them. A kettle full of boiling water over the offending area can do wonders. Be careful to place/wrap a rag so that as little as possible gets into the pedal bearing. This technique worked well the last time I had a problem.

Good Luck,

Ed

Ammonia is the stuff for dissolving aluminum corrosion products. I have never had to try it on pedals, but it works for seat posts and quill stems. The hot water has always worked for me on stuck pedals.

Actually a seizing pedal bearing WILL unscrew the pedal. But that rarely happens. What DOES happen is that the pedals can be unscrewed due to precession during rotation. In order to prevent that, the right hand side pedal has right hand threads, left hand has left-hand threads. This is counterintuitive because you'd think that would cause them to unscrew if loose, but actually due to precession, it makes them tighter as you pedal.

If you don't believe me, these people probably know what they're talking about:

http://www.parktool.com/repair_help/FAQpedls.shtml

(original poster, check out this link on removing pedals).

Assuming the threads aren't totally shot and there is a way to unscrew the pedals, leverage is key: Sometimes the wrench you use just isn't long enough. I like to slide a pipe or an old seatpost over it and push on that for more torque. On one occasion when no pipe or seatpost was handy, I slid the end of the wrench inside the head tube of an old frame and used a whole bike for leverage. I had to have a friend steady the bike I was working on, but it gotthe job done.

I stand corrected, you are right, I was wrong.

Still never was able to unscrew that *&^%*&* pedal, I have a crankarm with pedal attached as a trophy to my incompetence to show for it.

I usually stand on the wrench in step 3 of the "Halfspeed Method". You position the pedals at 2:00 (for drive side), or 10:00 (for non-drive side). Position the wrench pointing at 10:00 (drive side) or 2:00 (non drive side). Apply the brakes and stand on the wrench, gradually applying more force.
Next time, grease the threads before assembly.

That won't help if a gorilla uses a cheater bar to install them. I hosed a park pedal wrench getting a set off that had been greased and then instlled by a idiot(or gorilla). They don't have to be that tight.But, idiots and gorillas are slow to get that message.

I clamped the bike down, gave the pedal wrench a good whack and that got it loose, after the initial binding was loosened, it came out easy.
The LBS I got it from put a LOT of torque on it. The recommend is 30 ft-lbs. My dad and I put about 150 ft-lbs on it and it didn't even budge.