hsea17

Anyone with a recommendation for how to remove stuck pedals from crank arms? I have tried most things, include a bike dealer centre. The cranks are Ultegra and Shimano 105 Carbon pedals.


Thanks
hsea17

Marcus_Ti

A) Remember which way the threads go


B) Adequate lever arm


C) Penetrating lubricant


D) Heat.

fietsbob

replace the cranks,&pedals.. if your bike shop cannot get them off with 3 people and their shop tools

may have to saw things in half..

next time use Grease and perhaps Anti-Seize ..

Live near the Ocean?





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Iride01 

"Bike dealer center"???? Is this what I'd call a bike shop? Assuming they had a bike mechanic look at it and not just some salesperson..... what did they say about your issue? Or is that someplace like Target or Walmart which is like asking someone at HomeDepot or Lowes about home remodling and construction. They just don't have a clue.

Bonzo Banana

I'm not saying its the situation here because you have been to a bike dealer but I struggled to get seized pedals with a chromoly axle off aluminium cranks I struggled with normal tools to make any progress after using penetrating liquid then I bought a decent pedal spanner with a very strong spanner end and long handle with a very comfortable rubber grip that was on sale. I had both off within a minute thanks to the greater leverage, better fit off the spanner and easy comfortable gripping. Night and day difference.

cny-bikeman

I cannot conceive of a chrome-moly spindle on a high quality aluminum crank arm, both of fairly recent vintage, that could not be removed by a competent bike shop. Worst case would be to remove the crank arm(s), mount in a strong vise with soft jaw inserts, and use a levered pedal wrench or an allen fitting with an impact wrench.

JohnDThompson 

I've found it effective to remove the crank from the bike, clamp it in a sturdily-mounted bench vise, and use a pedal wrench and cheater pipe.

cny-bikeman

Sounds familiar..

speedevil 

To improve the lever arm, I cut a block of wood at approximately the same height as the BB. For the NDS pedal (left-hand thread) rotate the crank until the arm points to the rear and put the block under it. Now with a pedal wrench, or an allen wrench with a cheater bar you should be able to remove any pedal that is actually going to come off. For the DS pedal the crank will also be at pointed to the rear. Same procedure otherwise.

Penetrating oil like PB Blaster or Kroil, and perhaps heat may be required if grease or anti-seize wasn't used during assembly.

alcjphil

As far as I can see, those pedals cannot be removed using a 15mm pedal wrench. You need an 8mm hex key inserted into the back side of the pedal spindle. This means that you are turning the wrench in the opposite direction that you would using a conventional wrench. Those pedals are not all that old, they should not be seized unless you bike was ridden in harsh winter conditions for a long time. what sort of "bike dealer centre" did you go to?

dabac

Depends on the reference frame. WRT the bike, the tool still moves in the same direction regardless if you engage the axle flats or the axle face.

cny-bikeman

Also, due to the design of the pedal there is plenty of room for a regular open end or combo wrench with a cheater bar.

Dan Burkhart 

This, along with a bit of assistance from a heat gun.

alcjphil

Look at a picture of these pedals. They do not have wrench flats for a conventional pedal wrench

u235

First, pentrating fluid. If you can get a 15mm or pedal wrench on it, whack the wrench with a hammer. If only hex from other side, whacking a hex to attempt to rotate it is not ideal, it is hard to apply counter torque to a hex head socket and it will probably slip/strip but worth a try but before doing that.. Hold a large blunt something like maybe a 9/10mm socket against the pedal spindle inside the back of the crank arm and pound it a few times with med/hard sharp blows (make sure you are clearly only on the pedal spindle, not on the crank too). That might be enough to break up the galvanic corrosion. Try again with some heat on crank arm. Another option is a hex on the end of an impact. My guess is once it breaks free, it will immediately be pretty much hand tight the rest of the way out.

Obviously make sure you are turning the correct direction. The left pedal is reverse threaded.

cny-bikeman

p.s. Folks, not that is a heat gun, not a torch.

alexdi

I inherited a bike with an SPD pedal stuck on a pristine 5600 105 NDS crank. The pedal wrench aligned at 90 degrees to the crank, limiting some of the better leverage-enhancing techniques.

Here's what didn't work:

* 6 mm hex key
* Park pedal wrench
* Soaking with WD-40, the Park again
* Rubber mallet on the Park
* Impact driver
* Heat gun on the crank, the Park again
* Impact wrench (warped the hex bit)

Short of building a custom mold, I couldn't figure out how to hold the crank in the vise without damaging it. Ultimately, I took the crank off, wrapped most of it in duct tape, made a little teepee on the floor with the crank and the pedal wrench, and held the wrench in place while leaning my body weight on the assembly.

I did see one person succeed by removing the pedal body and cooling the spindle. That would have been next on the list.

SkyDog75

Odd as it may sound, I've found that I can apply a surprising amount of torque by positioning the body of a typical open-ended wrench almost parallel to the crank arm, then squeezing the crank arm and wrench together. If the pedal has flats and they're not more than 45 degrees or so out of parallel, relative to the crank arm, you may be able to give this a try.

cny-bikeman

That's actually a common strategy, also used as part of other methods.

u235

For my learning through your experiences... What type of impact and bit? A real automotive style 1/2 inch air or battery impact (200ft/lbs or greater) with hex socket on it or a drill driver style impact with a 1/4 inch standard bit?

alexdi

The impact driver was a 20V Dewalt with a hex shank and non-impact bit. About 100 ft lbs. The impact wrench was a 1/2" air tool with about 500 ft lbs and an impact bit. This bit warped, briefly cammed, and caused a bit of damage to the pedal.

A non-impact bit might have worked (or equally it might have shattered or destroyed the impact adapter). The 6mm insert on these older SPDs complicated things. More recent 8mm pedals can take much more torque.

ramzilla

I’ve had to disassemble the pedal and remove it from the spindle on an old Fuji once. After the pedal is removed all that’s left is the crank arm & spindle. Place the crank arm on the floor & put a 14” pipe wrench on the spindle. Use natural leverage to break things loose. Easy peasy.

Dyskolos

I have had issues with those specific pedals, and have talked with others who have had as well. The issue is that using the hex tool with a lot of torque cracks the hex socket part of the spindle at the thinnest part of the spindle. If this is the case for you, you should be able to see the cracks with a loupe and a strong light. The result is that increased torque only serves to further spread the spindle inside the crank and induce even greater resistance. In my case, I ended up destroying a crank arm "saving" a pedal that already not usable.

The only way, as far as know, to remove the pedal if this is your situation is to take the pedal apart so that only the pedal spindle remains. You can then grip the spindle with Vise-grips or the like and remove it from the outboard side.

Iride01 

@Dysholos -- I've had that happen quite a bit with headless set screws in aluminum fixtures and such that we used when I worked in a machine shop. And the end of the pedal with the socket for a hex key wrench is pretty much the same as the set screw. So using an open end wrench on the external flats or even disassembling the pedal body as you suggest will be best as the slightest pressure from the hex key wrench will expand the fractured steel into the soft aluminum locking it up.

For our situation the set screws required a very high torque and when they fractured it took a lot of finesse, artistry, holding your lips correctly and a certain amount of cussing to get them out without destroying the threads of the aluminum.

The Shimano Dealers Manual shows 306 to 480 inch-pounds (35-55 newton-meters) that's a lot of torque. I doubt I've ever torqued my pedals to more than 225 or 250 inch-pounds. The cylinder head bolts on my truck only get torqued to 336 to 372 inch-pounds. And it sees a lot more abuse than my pedals.

Crankycrank

Put the cranks in the freezer for a at least 2 hours. Then, before you take them out have all your tools setup and ready to go and a large pot of boiling water. Pour the boiling water over the crank surrounding the pedal spindle and try not to get the spindle hot and then try to remove the pedal. Give it a try, you have nothing to lose and won't damage any parts. If you have tried all the other suggestions as well and still no luck you may have to drill out the spindle with as large a bit as possible without hitting the crank threads and only drill as far as the thickness of the crankarm. This may weaken the remaining steel enough to be able to break the pedal free.