Stuck/fused pedals. What’s the solution?

[The History Man]

I just went through this on a 90 Klein Attitude. The pedals were original XT and probably had been in the original XT arms since 1990. I pulled the arms and soaked the pedals from the back with PB Blaster. I hit the pedal spindle with some heat on the backside. Finally I put an allen wrench in my vise and used the leverage of the crank arm to turn the pedal off. I might have even used a cheater bar on the crank arm. Be sure you are turning the right direction. Right drive arm, right hand thread, left non-drive arm, left hand thread. Even knowing direction can be confusing depending how how you are looking (front or back) at the arm.

Edit: thinking more about it... I had to give up on the allen wrench and I used a regular open end wrench (spanner to y'all) held in the vise and turned the crank arm.

Pb blaster?

 

[Stratoblaster]

Pb blaster?

Penetrating oil, maybe a USA thing...

https://blasterproducts.com/product/pb-blaster-penetrant/

 

[The History Man]

Penetrating oil, maybe a USA thing...

https://blasterproducts.com/product/pb-blaster-penetrant/

Thanks found it on Amazon.

 

[gtturbo]

This is one of the best tools I have ever bought. I occasionally struggled with normal pedals spanners but this bad boy has yet to be defeated. In the past boiling water has also helped.

Park Professional Pedal Wrench

 

[Eagach]

Not tried it but supposedly up there with the best home brew penetrating fluids.......acetone/auto transmission fluid at 50/50 ratio, give that a go ?

Good luck !

 

[novocaine]

Depends on the materials involved.
Stainless spindles in ali arms is galvanic corrosion. Product is aluminium oxide. Dissolve it in ethanol.
Iron oxide on ferrous steel spindles, then use a citric acid.
General crud and gunk,a light oil will dissolve that.

These all take time. Dissimilar heating, 0.7% per 40c. Heat the arm too 100c (well below temperature which would damage anything) in oven then spray the spindle with something cold (c02, butane propellent from an upside down tin if wd40, etc. ) it should crack any hold the oxide has left.

Oh and turn it the right way.

 

[The History Man]

15mm pedal wrenches spin on hexagonal shaft. Can get in with a quality long nosed wrench.

Will try hot and cold first.

Thanks for all the replies.

 

[RetroDavy]

Freezer and boiling water is good.

A variation on the 'hit it with something big' theme that has worked for me is to orient the wrench and crank arm so BB end of crank arm and end of wrench handle are resting on a piece of wood and the pedal end is in the air, at the top of the theoretical triangle.

Then, hitting with a mallet or big piece of hardwood downwards onto the top of the crank at that pedal end so the force would undo the thread. It shocks the thread and the wood, if on the ground, isn't going to move.

I hope this makes sense. For me it worked but stripped part of the thread off, even with oil and heat.

 

[jimo746]

How "nice" are the crank arms? Sometimes it's just not worth the time/effort/broken tools/swearing...

 

[Blackers]

I had a frozen pair of wellgo pedals in lx arms .
It took ages and loads of effort , not sure why I bothered persisting tbh but the key was to soak every time I popped in the workshop , then heat up to penetrate and leave and heat and leave soak heat try a spanner in a big I mean big bar and heat cool heat penetrate leave heat bar ,,, you get the gist , maximum effort and hardly any satisfaction until vice hammer heat bar repeat . In all this time about 1 full turn ........
Wasn't going to be beaten by it so carried on untill it was finally out .
The hot air gun and penetrating oil with brute dumb force succeeded,
It wasn't a full time gig , just as and when I was passing ...
Must of taken 4 weeks and clocked UP alot of 10mins here 10 mins there .
Didn't beat me though ...
Chucked the pedals and the arms will probably sit in a spares bin for years ...
I do like a challenge though