Noob question.

Trying to swap pedals from my old bike (now the wife’s) onto my new Wazoo. They will not shift for love nor money. I’m using the right size spanner but the shape seems off. Do I need a particular tool to do this ?

The left one unscrews clockwise.

Bigger spanner.

Not sure if it’s teaching you to suck eggs, but the left pedal is reverse threaded. It undoes clockwise.

Edit – too slow..

^ 😆

Have the pedals been rounded by previous hamfistedness?

Also, some have allen heads on the inside of the crankarm.

You’ll get more leverage with a spanner though. If they’ve got spanner flats they’ll almost certainly not have more than a 6mm Allen key hole.

Sometimes they get really welded on, a proper pedal spanner and plusgas on the threads

Angle grinder – post pictures 🙂

Big spanner. Google park pw4 for the one lots of shops use

I’m well aware of the thread on the bolts. Im an idjit but not that daft. I guess they’re just welded on with age.

You always loosen towards the rear wheel. Big spanner and hammer.

Put chain in big ring, cover with old towel, crank at 2 o’clock, spanner on (if there’s a bit of play, try wedging it with a bit of cloth or sandpaper), kick-start.

Plus-gas or WD40 overnight and try again in the morning.

Had to take a bike back to the shop as I couldn’t get the plastic pedals off to put spds on. They used a spanner welded into a 4 foot tube!

Having worked on drilling rigs, the casing used to over tighten, hydraulic rams at full pressure wouldn’t unscrew them, they wouldn’t budge them unless you tapped the casting with a sledge or lump hammer.

Apply pressure to unscrew, give the crank a tap.

Get your crank arm and spanner aligned so that you can stand on the spanner without the cranks turning, does it for me.

But as said above dont forget the left crank arm is opposite thread!

Plus gas overnight then crack the rust by tightening it first. Might work, I’ve binned cranks in the past though, they can be absolutely solid.

just buy a new bike. It’s the only way 😀

I’ve had to use a big bar (I think it was a dumbell bar) on a pedal spanner to get the leverage when a stupid shop monkey did them too tight. It worked.
Pedals only need nipping up (for when you’ve removed them!)

On extreme occasions I’ve put the pedal in a vice and used a bar on the crank for leverage (this is after removing the crank from the bike, obvs) to break it free. A 5 or 6 mm Allen key either side of the pedal axle flats to space it out so the vice can grip the axle.

And Dez is right, pedals do not need doing up tight in the first place. That’s why they have opposite threads, they self-tighten to an extent.

If none of that has worked, try heat, like a hot-air paint stripping thingy. Assuming the cranks are ally and the pedals steel, the cranks should expand more and loosen a bit. Any lube in there might get mobilised a tad too.

Of course, that leaves you trying to work on burn-hot kit.

Force x Length = Moment

So use a longer bar or more force to increase moment.

I struggled with 2 pairs of pedals on different bikes but got them off as I’m the Hulk.

If pedals were not greased when installed then yes they will be difficult to remove.