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Help! Pedal stuck in crank

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  • March 15, 2014 at 7:52 am #20946
    jova54

    Hi. I need some suggestions on getting a steel pedal spindle out of an aluminium crank. Looks like it was put it with no copper slip and is now to all intents seized.

    I have tried the following; soaking in WD40 for a couple of days, soaking in ammonia for a couple of days; not at the same time 😉 , heating the end of the crank with an electric paint stripper.

    Apart from drilling the pedal spindle out does anyone have any other ideas?

    Prefer not to chuck it away as it’s the chainwheel spider crank.

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Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 23 total)
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  • March 17, 2014 at 12:24 pm #780645
    0
    jova54

    Sorted.
    The thread had got
    Sorted.

    The thread had got crossed at some point in time. Managed to get it out with a bit of damage to the thread in the crank. LBS re-tapped the thread and there appears to be enough to keep the pedal in place but I’m going to have a look at having it heli-coiled just to be safe.

    March 17, 2014 at 10:20 am #780643
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    jova54

    Off to the LBS
    Off to the LBS

    March 17, 2014 at 10:08 am #780641
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    KiwiMike

    This is better than Sherlock.
    This is better than Sherlock. We want photos!

    March 17, 2014 at 9:34 am #780639
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    Nick T

    I bet it’s looking spotless
    I bet it’s looking spotless after the coke though, it does wonders on the toilet bowl 😀

    March 17, 2014 at 9:03 am #780637
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    jova54

    Think I’m going for the
    Think I’m going for the nuclear option.
    Tried Coke over the weekend and it still wont budge so off down the garage or LBS depending which has an engineer’s vice this morning.

    March 15, 2014 at 7:38 pm #780635
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    Gkam84

    I have had an issue like that
    I have had an issue like that in the past, got any TF2 spray lying around? Spray it around both sides, then take a lighter. It gives a nice quick blast of heat without doing any damage and should free it.

    Failing that, it is a vice job.

    March 15, 2014 at 7:33 pm #780633
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    MKultra

    jova54 wrote:MKultra

    jova54 wrote:
    MKultra wrote:
    Nick T wrote:
    But there’s an easier way that involves a banana, 2 goldfish, strawberry flavour jelly cubes and a 2litre pudding bowl to try first.
    You left out the blood of a virgin drawn under a full moon.

    I’m in Guildford. Where am I going to find a virgin? :D

    You must have a Games Workshop in town?

    March 15, 2014 at 7:29 pm #780631
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    jova54

    MKultra wrote:Nick T

    MKultra wrote:
    Nick T wrote:
    But there’s an easier way that involves a banana, 2 goldfish, strawberry flavour jelly cubes and a 2litre pudding bowl to try first.
    You left out the blood of a virgin drawn under a full moon.

    I’m in Guildford. Where am I going to find a virgin? 😀

    March 15, 2014 at 7:25 pm #780629
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    MKultra

    Nick T wrote:But there’s an

    Nick T wrote:
    But there’s an easier way that involves a banana, 2 goldfish, strawberry flavour jelly cubes and a 2litre pudding bowl to try first.
    You left out the blood of a virgin drawn under a full moon.

    March 15, 2014 at 7:11 pm #780627
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    therevokid

    my last one was an Allen key
    my last one was an Allen key fit so I could use an impact driver on it ….

    March 15, 2014 at 7:07 pm #780625
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    Nick T

    But there’s an easier way
    But there’s an easier way that involves a banana, 2 goldfish, strawberry flavour jelly cubes and a 2litre pudding bowl to try first.

    March 15, 2014 at 6:44 pm #780623
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    MKultra

    Lots of complicated
    Lots of complicated suggestions flying about but the simple answer is indeed that the pedal spindle needs to go in an engineering vice bolted to an imovable bench, the other way is to take a large pedal spanner or normal spanner and clamp that in the vice edge ways on and then put the pedal flat into the spanner. You dont need a punch, you dont need a claw hammer or ball peen hammer, you dont need amonia and you most likely wont need a heat gun either. If it’s the non drive side crank clamp the pedal flat in a girt big engineering vice or clamp a pedal spanner or heavy duty spanner of the same size into the vice edge on as suggested. Wrap the crank in a rag to stop it marking, slide length of cold rolled steel tube about a meter long over it (round or box section either will do if it fits) and it will make short work of getting the pedal un stuck. If it’s the drive side with the spider a rubber mallet will do the same job instead. A bit of WD/GT85/Plusgas etc etc will help as they are all mostly petrol but you should not need any truly nasty chemicals. The pedal probably was greased but it was probably greased with white lithium grease which bonds steel to ally through galvanic corrosion. Cheap and cheerfull answer rather than copper slip for future use is plain old vasaline (fnar fnar).

    March 15, 2014 at 2:14 pm #780621
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    Trull

    One last tip, if you want to
    One last tip, if you want to apply maximum torque, braze the spindle to the middle of a bar then turn with both hands so when you apply the force it will be pure torque rather than torque plus shear force. The shear force will simply ratchet up the friction and will stop you from undoing the spindle.

    March 15, 2014 at 2:11 pm #780619
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    Trull

    I had exactly the same
    I had exactly the same problem – a venerable PDM220 stuck in Campag Centaur crankset… what worked was to strip off the pedal body leaving the spindle only, then heat using a precise torch applied to the spindle then rapid cooling using shock’n’unlock from Halfords (about a fiver per can). Finally, overnight soaks in degreaser with a good few heat/unlock spray cycles eventually freed it off. You can heat aluminium up to about 200degC without too much bad effects and this will really help in expanding it away from the spindle.

    Persevere!

    Also make sure you do this work in a well ventilated area – the ignition of fumes could kill you.

    March 15, 2014 at 12:10 pm #780617
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    jova54

    gnarlyrider wrote:Try soaking

    gnarlyrider wrote:
    Try soaking it in coke for a few hours or overnight to dissolve the aluminium oxide.

    Then go with KiwiMike’s suggestion of stripping the pedal down and grabbing the spindle in a vice.

    Not come across that one so worth a try. Got some punches this morning but as my work bench is a Black & Decker Workmate it’s not too easy to clamp the arm tight enough.

    The pedal body is stripped off, it was a nasty plastic one so no loss, so if the coke doesn’t work I’ll take it to my daughter’s partner’s garage on Monday and put it in a proper vice.

    The frustrating bit is that the other pedal came off really easily ~X(

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