Stuck pedals - any further ideas?

[swansonj]

i am resurrecting an old chain set and can’t get the old pedals off (they probably haven’t been shifted for twenty years).

The flats are bigger than the standard 15 mm. My 16 mm spanner doesn’t fit (nor my 5/8), my 17 is slightly loose but not as loose as my 11/16. So I can get a fair bit of leverage but run the risk of rounding the corners or denting the spanner.

I’ve doused it in penetrating oil and applied a hair drier and tried hitting the spanner with a lump hammer for impact.

Any other ideas before I give up?

Thanks

 

[midlife]

Do you need the pedals?

 

[roadrash]

do you have a length of pipe to slide over the spanner as an extension for more leverage

 

[swansonj]

Do you need the pedals?

No. It’s the cranks I want (it’s the only one in my junk box with the right bcd to fit the couple of chainrings that I happen to have that will provide better gear ratios on an old bike we are resurrecting for someone who’s had theirs stolen. So it’s not worth spending significant money on).

So I am open to solutions that involve destroying the pedals. I thought of drilling out but I assume pedal axles are bleeping tough?

 

[DaveReading]

I’ve doused it in penetrating oil and applied a hair drier and tried hitting the spanner with a lump hammer for impact.

Do you mean (proper) penetrating oil, or WD40 ?

Can you get the cranks off the BB axle ? If so, might be worth sticking the lot in the freezer for 24 hours before attacking it again.

 

[roadrash]

could you dismantle most of the pedal and fix the spanner flats in a vice and turn the crank

 

[swansonj]

Do you mean (proper) penetrating oil, or WD40 ?

Can you get the cranks off the BB axle ? If so, might be worth sticking the lot in the freezer for 24 hours before attacking it again.

Yes, proper horrible gets everywhere thin black penetrating oil.

We have a reserve freezer in the garage as it happens, I may not even have to tell the rest of the family if I do that....

 

[Slick]

Did you really put a hair drier on it, surly rake more heat than that to shift it?

 

[swansonj]

Did you really put a hair drier on it, surly rake more heat than that to shift it?

Probably. But I no longer have access to the industrial hot air blower we used to have at work and I don’t know enough about material properties to want to put a blowtorch to it. So I figured it was better than nothing and at least worth trying. It did get markedly warm to touch.

 

[swansonj]

could you dismantle most of the pedal and fix the spanner flats in a vice and turn the crank

I’m definitely going to try that (though aren’t the bearing races sometimes larger diameter than the flats? I can see myself angle grinding through the axle...)

 

[Venod]

Dismantle the pedal, leaving only the shaft, put the crank in a vice, use some large Stilsons to grip the shaft, put a scaffold tube over the Stilsons handle and pull like fook.

 

[DaveReading]

Dismantle the pedal, leaving only the shaft, put the crank in a vice, use some large Stilsons to grip the shaft, put a scaffold tube over the Stilsons handle and pull like fook.

Taking care not to get the left and right one mixed up.

 

[Levo-Lon]

Stillsons on the axle and heat ,tho the stillsons should grip it enough

 

[swansonj]

Now admitting defeat.

I dismantled the pedal. The corners on the hex on the pedal angle were beginning to get rounded, so I used an angle grinder to grind two of the opposite flats down quite a way to make a really decent pair of parallel flats:

(Sorry, that’s not a very clear photo, but trust me...)

I then bolted my bench vice to an eight foot length of 2x4, gripped the new flats in the vice, and stuck a piece of scaffolding pole over the crank:

And pulled. To be precise, got my wife to stand on the 2x4 while I pushed with my feet against the 2x4 and pulled against the scaff pole.

With all my strength.

And nothing happened.

Which is why I am admitting defeat, at least till I can try again with a decent source of heat.

But thanks everyone for the suggestions

 

[midlife]

Blimey, are you turning it the right way?