No matter how much force I apply this pedal won’t come loose. It’s the left one so it’s meant to go clockwise to loosen apparently. I’ve tried to turn it both ways. It won’t budge at all.
No matter how much force I apply this pedal won’t come loose. It’s the left one so it’s meant to go clockwise to loosen apparently. I’ve tried to turn it both ways. It won’t budge at all.
byu/Antidotebeatz inbikewrench
by Antidotebeatz
29 Comments
You need more leverage. Use a longer wrench or put a pipe over the wrench. Also, make sure your turning the right direction.
With that short of a lever – you‘re not applying any „force“ …
Use a lever that’s WAY more longer and turn the pedals towards the back of the bike on both sides!
Apply heat to the end of that crank arm. It’s made of aluminum so it should expand a bit more than the steel insert from the pedal.
Add some WD-40 or penetrating oil.
Run through multiple cycles of this.
Then get a wrench on that pedal that fits really tight and lightly tap on it to get it to come loose.
Heat, penetrating oil, patience, and impact will get you there.
All comments that have helped me are under this post. I’d say wd40 and penatrating oil to start.
https://www.reddit.com/r/bikewrench/s/2FFRtRY5hy
The direction you’re turning is right but as others mentioned you probably need more leverage. Older pedals like this have years of force in the other direction so require a lot of force to get loose, don’t be afraid to apply it.
Get a longer better tool to take it off, or use a pipe on the wrench.
Also set the crank at a better angle, I’d say about 270° let’s you get a better leverage without having to hold the pedal at the same time.
If it’s really stuck it might need a bit of heat on it, that’s a last resort really.
WD40 around the threads, both sides. Fix bike secure against wall or have someone hold. Left pedal at 7-8 o’clock with Wrench parallel to ground. Full body weight/foot on end of Wrench. Sometimes hitting Wrench end with rubber mallot will also listen it. And longer Wrench arm maybe fit a pope over it as an extension. Good luck
You need a pedal wrench, thats all.
Skip all the WD-40, penetrating oil, heat, etc.
Nothing but a pedal wrench and a good angle
Yes left pedal is left-hand threads. I always smack the wrench with a plastic tip hammer.
Best trick is to get the pedal at bottom dead center and the wrench on it parallel to the floor and give it a good stomp. Additionally hitting a short wrench with a rubber mallet will break even the most stubborn bolts even on a car suspension. Just might have to do it like 30-40 times.
Hit it with your purse………hope this helps
yeah, you need something longer, plain and simple .. that is just too short to be able to work that.
My knuckles have been the victim of many leverage attempts.
If you don’t want to buy a proper pedal wrench, you could try a couple of tricks before that. One thing you can do is try to put the wrench in a better position so that the arms are closer and you can use both hands. You could put the bike upside down and try to step on the wrench. You can find an long pipe and use it as leverage. You can try to daisy chain another wrench… Good luck with that.
– Clock wise to loosen the non-drive side pedal.
– ideally use a longer lever
– whack the end of the lever with the palm of your hand. Works every time. like a human powered impact wrench.
Use a pedal wrench. I always line up the crank arm with the chain stay. Pushing down the other pedal, while lifting the pedal wrench always gets it. You don’t have enough torque with Mickey Mouse’s wrench.
There might be an Allen head recess on the crank end of the pedal for just this reason
As everyone else has said. Put the pedals 50/50 parallel to the ground, spray with wd40 and wait 20 mins or so then use a longer pipe/wrench or anything that can slip over your current tool to give more leverage. I’ve had to use body weight on the pedal and the tool to loosen some before and be ready for the slip
Get a pipe and slip it over the wrench. If you’re near an auto shop, they probably have such a pipe you can borrow if you explain.
>No matter how much force I apply this pedal won’t come loose.
You are using the wrong tool for the job. There’s a reason that pedal wrenches exist, they make it soooo much easier to remove pedals.
If you are going to be removing and installing pedals on a regular basis, I would suggest that you get yourself a decent pedal wrench. Park Tool and Pedro’s make good quality pedal wrenches, they aren’t cheap but consider that you will only have to buy it one time (as in “buy once, cry once”). I also found [this one from Unior](https://www.universalcycles.com/shopping/product_details.php?id=109457) that looks like a decent pedal wrench for a more affordable price.
If you don’t want to spend the money on the proper tool, or if you’re just in a hurry, then just take the bike to your Local Bike Shop. Or if there’s a bicycle co-op or collective in your area, you could take your bike there as most bike co-ops will allow you to use their tools for a small donation (or maybe even for free).
I don’t hear any swearing, which means you haven’t even actually tried yet. You need a wrench with a longer handle. I also put my foot on the pedal, not knee. That looks painful. Foot on the pedal, long wrench, then pull on the wrench while pushing with your foot and screaming cuss words. Works every time
Your wrench is too short. Get a proper pedal wrench.
Sometimes I will put the bike on the ground and put my body weight on it to free it.
Works almost every time:
an inner tube wrapped more and more around the key and the crank. The key and the crank must be almost parallel but offset by a few centimeters so that the inner tube forces in the right direction of course
There’s a darned good reason a proper pedal wrench is over 2 feet long… Leverage is your friend. Try standing on it.
Longer pedal wrench > Steel pipe that gives you more leverage attached to the wrench > a nylon hammer and smack the hell out of that pipe.
I don’t think any pedal will hold on to this.
A good angle will also save you a ton of force.
https://preview.redd.it/s70mok0eckie1.png?width=1210&format=png&auto=webp&s=03bca29ee59343be316d435b240d12e545be640a
If you dont have the leverage with bigger tool you can try this. Stand over the bike and apply brakes. Shift into the highest gear so the bike doesn’t start moving easily if the brakes fail. Place your foot so the heel will land on the cranks to prevent injury.
put it upside down, wrench level with the ground and smack it with a hammer towards the down tube. this works perfectly for me whenever i encounter a siezed pedal. although you may either want to use a rubber hammer or a wrnech you dont care about.
The fact that the pedal is up at the top of the pedal stroke tells me you’re not getting enough torque. Like orders of magnitude. As others have said, get a pedal wrench or a breaker bar for your current wrench
Get a cheater bar