Pedal Removal

My shop put the grease on the threads when I picked them up today.

gman0482 said:

sorry righty loosey

NO! On the right side, i.e. the side where your left food, and probably, your left leg would be, it's lefty loosey! It's really hard to get a pedal off by tightening it.

I thought both pedals were LH

Ok..... I'm Polish........ don't mind me 🙄. Thank you BTW 🙂

gman0482 said:

Ok..... I'm Polish........ don't mind me 🙄. Thank you BTW 🙂

I assume you got it off, now?

Suppose it can be a bit confusing. If you're using the allen key from the back of the spindle on the RH (drive-side) pedal, then you would be trying to turn it clockwise to loosen. From the pedal side (front), that's counter-clockwise or "lefty-loosey".

I never use an allen wrench on pedals, so didn't realize you were breaking those. You really can't apply much torque with an allen key without rounding it off or breaking it, as you found out. As Alienator said, a big pedal wrench is the way to go. If you don't want to invest in tools, just use your LBS. Hopefully they will do these little jobs for you while you wait, with a minimal or free charge. Plus you can learn a lot just watching....like grease on the threads 🙂

hehe, it didn't dawn on me what you said in your 1st post, just cause I was so mad at this :o. I'm getting another 15mm wrench, and I should be all set (although now I've tightened it soo hard that it will be fun getting it off). Thank you for helping me through my brainfart 🙂.

I'm suprised that Look didn't go with the typical wrench bolt. They also made a larger allen size, I had to get another wrench cause my normal bike tool was too small.

Merged threads to save space...

So, Cyberlegend's now workin' for the man....

alienator said:

So, Cyberlegend's now workin' for the man....

That's Mr. Cyberlegend to us now....

😄

Yup. How quickly power corrupts. In another thread, elsewhere on the forum, he made a poster kneel before him and kiss his web boots.

Hmmm... I wonder what this button does... 😄

dhk2 said:

Some good suggestions here, but my first tool for a stubborn pedal is a machinists' hammer. It may be a scary thought to some, but have found the impact from a modest tap or two on the wrench is usually all it takes to loosen stuck threads. Hold the wrench and crank arm firmly with your other hand while tapping, or get a helper. Use caution of course. If a few reasonable blows doesn't do it, then would try penetrating oil overnight, followed with a repeat with the hammer taps.

Or use an air hammer on the wrench.

Here's how I ended up freeing mine:

1. Place U-lock through frame to brace crank. (Not recommended with CF frames)
2. Heat crank end near pedal with electric heat gun.
3. Use Park Tools Cone Wrench (15/22 mm) to twist pedal in correct direction. Backup was with a hex-head socket and a breaker bar with a 3/8-inch drive. Extra leverage on breaker bar if needed would have been from a piece of 1-inch PVC pipe.
4. Place Anti-Seize compound on threads of replacement pedals before installing. Better than any grease out there for thread protection, won't dry up or evaporate.

Just call me MacGyver... 😄