Removing pedals with chewed up hex sockets

[ScumOfTheRoad]

I quite fancy a new set of double sided pedals. In the local bike shop they could not get one of my existing pedals off. The hex socket is chewed up. these padelas have no flats on them for a pedal spanner.
Ideas please on how to remove the pedal safely?

[Tod28]

As the pedal is of no further use cos the hex is knackered, strip the pedal in situ and remove the axle with stilsons.

[Wowbagger]

I'd guess that if your pedals are that knackered that you can't get an allen key to do anything, you remove them fairly regularly. You might benefit from QR pedals.

[Torslanda]

Crank in the vice and hammer in an oversize TX bit (45 or 50?) or, as suggested above, strip the pedal but I would use a vice on the spindle and turn the crank.

[Jurek]

It all sounds like it is venturing into a world of pain....

My top tip?
Hammer in a sacrificial,  oversize Torx bit and hope / pray that it does the job.
If you want me to have a crack at this in SE23 tomorrow, drop me a PM - otherwise it'll be next weekend at earliest.

ETA - X-post with the 'Slanda

[Brucey]

heat (in moderation) and penetrating oil help.

FWIW I think that pedals with no flats on the spindle are basically a stupid idea. IME if they are not greased properly and occasionally removed for a repeat treatment, they don't come out of the crank without the hex getting mangled when the time comes. In extremis the hex socket splits before the pedal comes out.

cheers

[Greenbank]

If you don't have penetrating oil (most people don't) try Coca-cola. Worked for me when I needed to free up a stuck bottom bracket.

[Jurek]

If you don't have penetrating oil (most people don't) try Coca-cola. Worked for me when I needed to free up a stuck bottom bracket.

Sound advice.
In the absence of Plus-Gas.

[Peter]

If you don't have penetrating oil (most people don't) try Coca-cola. Worked for me when I needed to free up a stuck bottom bracket.

Coca-cola can also free a stuck bottom.

[ScumOfTheRoad]

Thanks all. I have penetrating spray and a big socket set because I work on cars. In this case I dont think penetrating spray will be of any use, the socket is chewed uop too badly.
I am thinking of taking the crank off and using a stud extractor, I have a set from Lidl.
Would come roudn to your Jurek - but I have no replacement pedals yet!

[rogerzilla]

I would definitely disassemble the pedal and put the spindle in a vice.  Even then you may also need a shot of boiling water just before unscrewing it.  The spindle is already scrap - you will never refit it.

[robgul]

I would definitely disassemble the pedal and put the spindle in a vice.  Even then you may also need a shot of boiling water just before unscrewing it.  The spindle is already scrap - you will never refit it.

Or the converse to try Chill Zone (assuming the crank and spindle are different metals)

Rob

[Jurek]

Thanks all. I have penetrating spray and a big socket set because I work on cars. In this case I dont think penetrating spray will be of any use, the socket is chewed uop too badly.
I am thinking of taking the crank off and using a stud extractor, I have a set from Lidl.
Would come roudn to your Jurek - but I have no replacement pedals yet!

If you are still stuck with it by next weekend, I'm a 10 minute walk from the ginger line at FH.
I'm guessing that you're not too far from the ginger line as well.

[Torslanda]

I am thinking of taking the crank off and using a stud extractor, I have a set from Lidl.

Hope you have a steady supply of cobalt drill bits, pedal axles are bloody hard!

[hellymedic]

If the axle was bloody hard, surely the hex socket would not have been chewed!?

[Brucey]

I agree with Tors; drilling pedal spindles is bloody hard work. Years ago I tried to lighten a set of steel shimano spindles by drilling holes up the middle of them. I didn't get on very well, despite being as well tooled up for the job as I could imagine being. Spindles in pedals with cup and cone bearings are also selectively hardened; sods law says you will be trying to drill into a hardened part.

If a hard steel allen key goes into a hard steel socket, something will still give if you swing hard enough on it. Pedals only need about 20ftlbs to be  installed tight enough, but may require about x10 that to come out if they are seized.  If the allen key used was cheap (and herefore badly sized), worn , or the wrong size anyway (eg a 5/16" key is noticably smaller than an 8mm one) then some damage is almost inevitable.

A new 8mm allen key in a typical pedal spindle only overlaps to drive by a radius which is a little over 0.5mm bigger. It ain't much, which is why I don't like pedals with no flats on; you can only pass a small fraction of the torque through an 8mm hex fitting vs a decent sized pair of flats.

cheers

[rogerzilla]

I would definitely disassemble the pedal and put the spindle in a vice.  Even then you may also need a shot of boiling water just before unscrewing it.  The spindle is already scrap - you will never refit it.

Or the converse to try Chill Zone (assuming the crank and spindle are different metals)

Rob

The crank should expand more, and faster than, the spindle when heated.  When you hrat something with a hole in it, the hole gets bigger (this isn't obvious, since you might expect it to expand in all directions, but it actually becomes a bigger version of itself).

[Jurek]

I am thinking of taking the crank off and using a stud extractor, I have a set from Lidl.

Hope you have a steady supply of cobalt drill bits, pedal axles are bloody hard!

Mmmmm.
Was my thought too.