Remove pedals on vintage bike

[Daddybus]

Hi all, I'm trying to remove the pedals on a late 40's rudge & I take it I will need a slim IMPERIAL sized pedal spanner -anyone know where I can buy one? I've searched eBay Amazon etc & the forums but they all mention 15mm.....just how loose or tight would this be? I cant tell what size i will need....Could I grind a little off the jaw or ....(depending on how 'slim' the spanner is) try to hammer the jaws a little closer. Cheers

 

[Tony Raynor]

15mm will probably do but I'm pretty sure the imperial would have been 9/16. That said I still have one stuck in a crank that I hate to give up on. If possibly do it while the crank is on the bike. Also get a cheater bar that will fit over the end of the spanner to give you a little more leverage. Give them a good soak before hand.

Good luck with removal

 

[robsa]

Go to the carboot sale or local junk shop or even an elderly relative and see if there's an old fashioned flat steel bicycle spanner, there will be slot cut in it to fit .
That's what o used on my rudge . Useful thing to have

 

[Daddybus]

Go to the carboot sale or local junk shop or even an elderly relative and see if there's an old fashioned flat steel bicycle spanner, there will be slot cut in it to fit .
That's what o used on my rudge . Useful thing to have

I'm too impatient for that...ha -but I'm sure I've got a couple of old bike spanners knocking about (if I can find 'em) they're pretty small tho didn't think they would be strong /long enough...

 

[classic33]

Second hand market! and grind the spanner down evenly on either side. Avoids putting any twist in the movement.

 

[Illaveago]

I would have thought being they old it would be a Whitworth sized spanner.

 

[HertzvanRental]

Hi all, I'm trying to remove the pedals on a late 40's rudge & I take it I will need a slim IMPERIAL sized pedal spanner -anyone know where I can buy one? I've searched eBay Amazon etc & the forums but they all mention 15mm.....just how loose or tight would this be? I cant tell what size i will need....Could I grind a little off the jaw or ....(depending on how 'slim' the spanner is) try to hammer the jaws a little closer. Cheers

Can't help on the size, but, if your ever looking for Imperial tooling, seek out a car or m/c jumble.

 

[tyred]

Standard 15mm pedal spanned should be fine. All British built adult bikes* since late Victorian times used the same 9/16" pedal pedal thread, just like any modern bike that doesn't have a 1 piece crank, and the flats would be the same too I would expect.

*I just know someone will provide me with a list of exceptions to this!

 

[Daddybus]

The 15mm metric multi bike spanner dealt with my 80's bike no trouble at all...the 40's one was another matter...had to hammer it on to the nut (think its slightly bigger than 15mm) then tried to turn it with a shock blow to the end of the spanner...it just twisted & opened up straight away....I only wanted to clean & lube them anyway so it's no biggy

 

[robsa]

Undo them from the other end if you want to strip and re-grease em.

 

[Daddybus]

Eh?

 

[PpPete]

Wot he means is to disassemble the pedal whilst leaving the spindle on the crank.

 

[Daddybus]

Hmmm... I'll take a look see if there are any nuts ...they're rat trap style pedals, I'm more used to rubber block style ones which usually (*in my experience) have plain mushrooms? on the outer end

 

[classic33]

Plastic cap fitted with a grease nipple. Force feed the grease through.
That's if there is no nut on the outside to allow the pedal to be dismantled.

It also sounds like they may be metric inch size, somewhere between 16 & 17 mm.

 

[User42423]

Hi all, I'm trying to remove the pedals on a late 40's rudge & I take it I will need a slim IMPERIAL sized pedal spanner -anyone know where I can buy one? I've searched eBay Amazon etc & the forums but they all mention 15mm.....just how loose or tight would this be? I cant tell what size i will need....Could I grind a little off the jaw or ....(depending on how 'slim' the spanner is) try to hammer the jaws a little closer. Cheers

A standard 'thin walled' 15mm spanner should do the trick. But soak the axle thread in oil 1st. I always use heat to warm the thread up if they're stubborn. You can do more harm by trying to force a pedal spanner to loosen a pedal.