Help me remove my left pedal

[PJ520]

Two bike shops + me have tried and failed. (I wondered why one of them removed the left crank instead of the left pedal when they boxed it up. Now I know.). The cranks on my Trek 520 are 105s. The pedals are Shimano SPD without wrench flats and the socket is rounded out from attempts at removal. Where do I go from here? I am thinking of Vice Grips on the spindle, a block of wood under the crank and wacking the grips with a hammer. Any better ideas would be appreciated. Can I buy a left crank without buying the whole shebang? I'm resigned to replacing the pedals.

[fatboy]

I have bought a left crank only but it was on a rubbish bike so I didn't care what it looked like etc.

Back on getting the pedal out I doubt that you'll manage with mole grips as I doubt that you'll have enough space for the jaws. If you don't mind sacrificing the pedals and assuming it's the sort that use a plastic tool to dismantle you may be able to use mole grips to get the platform off and take the innards apart to get left with the axle to grip or be able to use the cone but if the thread works right but the thread may be wrong.

Good luck!

[Mick F]

First thought from me is to remove the crank, and also remove the pedal from its spindle and clamp the spindle VERY tightly in a bench vice, then turn the crank off it. Maybe a bit of gentle heat on the crank would help.

You are already resigned to fitting new pedals, so any further damage to it is ok.

[Cyril Haearn]

It might be worth heating or cooling the parts if they are of different metals. They will expand or contract at different rates.

[Vetus Ossa]

As Mick F says, and don't forget, it loosens anti clockwise.

[Vetus Ossa]

Well thats anti clockwise on the chainwheel side and clockwise on the other.

[[XAP]Bob]

Is it a pedal you still want?

[StellaLdn.]

As Mick says.

Or: if you have one of those thick, flat rubber bands and there's enough space for plumbers' grips ... you could try that first. Put on Plus Gas first. And it needs to be turned clockwise. (Just in case there are any confusions.)

[Brucey]

you should be able to withdraw the axle and bearing assy from the pedal body, then dismantle the bearing, leaving just the bare pedal spindle. To do this you need a 17mm hex wrench. Note that the bearing retainers on these pedals also have handed screw threads so be sure to turn the sleeve the correct way. The best tool for this job 'in situ' is a lightly modified flare nut wrench BTW; an open ended wrench will do the job if you are lucky but if it is a bit tight you will wreck the job quite easily; more easily than with a flare nut wrench anyway. If you are happy to buy a new pedal spindle (and it sounds like you need one) then you can grind a couple of flats on the old spindle and hold it in a bench vice.

Alternatively if you are as cunning as a weasel, you could add a couple of blobs of MIG weld metal inside the hex key socket and use a 'special tool' ( i.e. a hex key with a couple of chunks ground out of it to match the blobs) to unscrew the offending item.

At risk of pointing out the b.obvious (or jumping to conclusions), next time use a load of copper ease on the pedal threads and don't let half-witted chimps with worn/cheap tools (and no idea, probably) loose on your bike.

Not that it is a good design, mind; I think it is pants actually. The cheaper SPD pedals have spanner flats and work just as well IMHO, so I don't much bother with the posher ones with spindles like that.

cheers

[PJ520]

Thanks everybody

next time use a load of copper ease on the pedal threads

in the past I've always used Loctite Anti-sieze, the grey stuff that gets EVERYWHERE, and never had a problem. On this particular pedal someone told me that grey stuff was a bad idea because it migrated to the bearings and ruined them and I should use grease instead, I couldn't quite see how this migration occurred but he owned the bike shop and seemed to know what he was talking about, so grease it I did. Never again.

[Brucey]

I can't think of how the stuff was meant to migrate from the pedal thread into the bearings.... perhaps there was some confusion over the greasing of the LH crank spline or something?

I wouldn't use anti-seize on an H-II LH crank spline, if nothing else because the thing might fret and never settle properly, leave alone the possibility of it getting into the bearings.

good luck with the removal!

cheers

[PJ520]

Thanks again Brucey,

confusion over the greasing of the LH crank spline or something?

Makes sense. It's not urgent; I don't have to remove the pedal until my next tour and only then if I have to box the bike up. But you know how it is, it just niggles. In the meantime I'll look for a crank and some nice SPDs. Interestingly I got the pedals that are on now at a Godalming bike shop some years ago after the airline security people lost the originals that did have wrench flats. They also lost my front skewer and the only replacement said Godalming bike shop had was a titanium job that cost £40!