Pedal Off?

Richard Pattle said:

The project that is my car boot bargain is loathe to let me change its
pedals. Any tips for shifting pedals that appear to have welded themselves
to the cranks?

Your friendly neighbourhood hardware store will probably have
penetrating oil, or equivalent thereof (the mech workshop downstairs use
stuff called "PlusGas"😉. A good long soak in that (at least overnight,
not a few minutes) followed up by the attentions of a [censored] Size pedal
spanner (your LBS may well lend you one for a brief attack if you take
it along) is probably your best bet.

A proper pedal spanner designed specifically for the job should improve
your chances over a standard spanner. If it's possible to extend it
with a bit of pipe that'll give you a little more leverage.

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch Medical Physics IT Officer
Tel 44 1382 660111 ext. 33637 Univ. of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital
Fax 44 1382 640177 Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK
net [email hidden] http://www.dundee.ac.uk/~pjclinch/

Peter Clinch said:

the mech workshop downstairs use stuff called "PlusGas"

That's the one I use, when the need arises, long experience having shown
that it is vastly superior to anything else which I could find back in the
80s when mending sick motor cars was my main hobby.

--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

Victory is ours! Down with Eric the Half A Brain!

"Just zis Guy, you know?" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Peter Clinch said:

the mech workshop downstairs use stuff called "PlusGas"

That's the one I use, when the need arises, long experience having shown
that it is vastly superior to anything else which I could find back in the
80s when mending sick motor cars was my main hobby.

--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

Victory is ours! Down with Eric the Half A Brain!

Thanks guys.

I've succeeded in moving it now. At first I thought I couldn't get my
largest adjustable spanner on it because the pedal cage got in the way, but
then it dawned on me (doh!) that as I was going to be throwing that one away
I could easily dismantle the old pedal from the other end, leaving just the
axle. Then the application of said spanner and my considerable bulk did the
trick.

Penetrating oil
Patience
Hair dryer or other tame source of heat to crank
Pedal spanner (usu 15mm)
Patience
Remember left pedal comes off clockwise (ie left hand thread)
20 stone friendly helper
Patience
Strip thread

SWEAR!

--
Helen D. Vecht: [email hidden]
Edgware.

"Richard Pattle" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

The project that is my car boot bargain is loathe to let me change its
pedals. Any tips for shifting pedals that appear to have welded themselves
to the cranks?

Park Tools produce a pedal spanner that matches Peter's description. I
couldn't shift the pedals on one of my bikes, took it into the LBS and they
set to it with a Park spanner and shifted it in seconds. I bought one on
the spot.

Helen Deborah Vecht said:

Penetrating oil
Patience
Hair dryer or other tame source of heat to crank
Pedal spanner (usu 15mm)
Patience
Remember left pedal comes off clockwise (ie left hand thread)
20 stone friendly helper
Patience
Strip thread

Quoted message said:

SWEAR!

And, in my case, give up and buy very nice new bike.

Roos

Richard Pattle said:

I've succeeded in moving it now. At first I thought I couldn't get my
largest adjustable spanner on it because the pedal cage got in the
way...

A good long pedal spanner is a cheap and useful tool :-)

--
Guy
===
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after posting.
http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

Victory is ours! Down with Eric the Half A Brain!

Richard Pattle said:

The project that is my car boot bargain is loathe to let me change its
pedals. Any tips for shifting pedals that appear to have welded themselves
to the cranks?

A big pedal spanner, with a piece of scaffold pole over the end if
necessary. Forget allen keys.

in message <40cddb84.0@entanet>, Zog The Undeniable

(') said:

Richard Pattle said:

The project that is my car boot bargain is loathe to let me change
its pedals. Any tips for shifting pedals that appear to have welded
themselves to the cranks?

A big pedal spanner, with a piece of scaffold pole over the end if
necessary. Forget allen keys.

AND REMEMBER THE REVERSE THREAD!

With the spanner sticking out from the pedal towards the rear of the
bike, always push downwards.

--
[email hidden] (Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/
There's nae Gods, an there's precious few heroes
but there's plenty on the dole in th Land o th Leal;
And it's time now, tae sweep the future clear o
th lies o a past that we know wis never real.

Richard Pattle said:

The project that is my car boot bargain is loathe to let me change its
pedals. Any tips for shifting pedals that appear to have welded themselves
to the cranks?

Having had exactly that problem yesterday, all of the previously
aforementioned, plus a blowtorch on the crank for a minute or so to
expand it.

Just zis Guy said:

Richard Pattle said:

I've succeeded in moving it now. At first I thought I couldn't get my
largest adjustable spanner on it because the pedal cage got in the
way...

A good long pedal spanner is a cheap and useful tool :-)

And a 4ft length of old car exhaust pipe or scaffold pole even cheaper.
Possibly one of the most useful large tools I own, can be used to massively
increase leverage on a mirriad of stuck threads.

However, you do need a decent quality spanner of the right size fitted over
the nut/bolt first, otherwise things just get rounded off.

--
NC - Webmaster for http://www.2mm.org.uk/
Replies to newsgroup postings to the newsgroup please.

NC said:

Just zis Guy said:

Richard Pattle said:

I've succeeded in moving it now. At first I thought I couldn't get my
largest adjustable spanner on it because the pedal cage got in the
way...

A good long pedal spanner is a cheap and useful tool :-)

And a 4ft length of old car exhaust pipe or scaffold pole even cheaper.
Possibly one of the most useful large tools I own, can be used to
massively
increase leverage on a mirriad of stuck threads.

However, you do need a decent quality spanner of the right size fitted
over
the nut/bolt first, otherwise things just get rounded off.

A wooden mallet has proved invaluable for this - just be careful.

--

J u l i a n

__o
_`\(,_
(_)/ (_)

"Richard Pattle" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

The project that is my car boot bargain is loathe to let me change its
pedals. Any tips for shifting pedals that appear to have welded themselves
to the cranks?

With the bike on its side I put a bucked under the stuck crank and
poured a kettle full of boiling water over the crank and pedal then
quickly got my weight on the spanner. This worked like a charm. Be
very sure you have worked out which way to turn the spanner :p and be
carefull of the hot crank... its hot!

Julian Symondson said:

A wooden mallet has proved invaluable for this - just be careful.

Yes, whack end of spanner with club hammer or mallet.

~PB

"Ricardo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Richard Pattle said:

The project that is my car boot bargain is loathe to let me change its
pedals. Any tips for shifting pedals that appear to have welded themselves
to the cranks?

Having had exactly that problem yesterday, all of the previously
aforementioned, plus a blowtorch on the crank for a minute or so to
expand it.

This will also neatly buggerise any heat treating that was performed on the
crank at the time of manufacture.
--
"I would recommend Iowa or North
Dakota for your dip into reality."
- Ed Dolan in alt.rec.bicycles.recumbent

Just zis Guy said:

A good long pedal spanner is a cheap and useful tool :-)

Especially if acquired by Stealth. Mine materialised in the back of my car
after a BHPC race meeting...

--

Dave Larrington - http://www.legslarry.beerdrinkers.co.uk/
===========================================================
Editor - British Human Power Club Newsletter
http://www.bhpc.org.uk/
===========================================================

Mark South said:

Quoted message said:

Having had exactly that problem yesterday, all of the previously
aforementioned, plus a blowtorch on the crank for a minute or so to
expand it.

This will also neatly buggerise any heat treating that was performed on the
crank at the time of manufacture.

Only if you overdo it. Sheldon as usual is on hand to tell you to heat it
until water dropped on it sizzles and then apply the spanner. Used it once or
twice myself in the past.

Tony

"Tony Raven" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Mark South said:

Quoted message said:

Having had exactly that problem yesterday, all of the previously
aforementioned, plus a blowtorch on the crank for a minute or so to
expand it.

This will also neatly buggerise any heat treating that was performed on the
crank at the time of manufacture.

Only if you overdo it.

Which is pretty easy to do. I mean, blowtorch.

Quoted message said:

Sheldon as usual is on hand to tell you to heat it
until water dropped on it sizzles and then apply the spanner.

Water dropped on it will sizzle as long as it's above a certain temp. It
doesn't tell you that you have kept the temp low enough.

Quoted message said:

Used it once or twice myself in the past.

"If it doesn't move, don't force it. Use a very large hammer."
--
"Mango sorbet is clearcut proof that we have progressed beyond the
bare needs of survival and have progressed to the transcendant."
- Marc Goodman in talk.bizarre

Mark South wrote:
plus a blowtorch on the crank for a minute or so to

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

expand it.

This will also neatly buggerise any heat treating that was performed on the
crank at the time of manufacture.

'tis true. I should've mentioned I wasn't planning on using the crank
again, just the pedal. :-)