A friend gave me a project to do, a bicycle with a snapped off peddle shaft. The broken piece inside the crank arm was flat. I took two nuts that fit just inside the diameter of the crank arm hole. I put one nut on top and one on the bottom and cranked down the press. Once it was tight, I swung the crank arm back and forth loosening it up.
Bicycle Peddle Snapped
- Thread starter Levaughn
- Start date
Stuart in MN
Well-known member
I broke off a pedal on my bike when I was about 12 years old so I took the crank to the local welding/repair shop. The owner of the shop heated up the end of the crank with a torch to expand the threads, grabbed a hammer and punch, and with two or three big whacks knocked the broken stub out and handed it back to me. The whole procedure took about two minutes and amazingly the threads in the crank were fine, no damage at all. I was able to screw in another pedal without a problem.
4xdog
Well-known member
theoldwizard1
Well-known member
Just remember, left side pedals have left hand threads !
I saw riding along side of my granddaughter when her left pedal fell off. The threads were slight messed up and who has. Left hand metric tap. Local Nike shop charged me $5 and put LocTite on it.
I saw riding along side of my granddaughter when her left pedal fell off. The threads were slight messed up and who has. Left hand metric tap. Local Nike shop charged me $5 and put LocTite on it.
great idea on loosening the shaft
nadogail
Well-known member
Crank arms are usually alloy steel or aluminum. Aluminum cranks are less forgiving than the steel cranks.
Skyman
Well-known member
rlitman
Well-known member
Look at the picture. It's a one-piece crank off a BMX bike. Probably a low alloy steel.
4xdog
Well-known member
Ashtabula crank. They were common on almost all bikes, and then cheaper bikes, for decades. BMX can have both one-piece and cotterless cranks, but, yes, likely from a lower-end BMX bike.
mike93lx
ALLIANCE MEMBER
Definitely time for carbon cranks. The weight savings will be amazing...
theoldwizard1
Well-known member
In my day, the crank and arms were one piece cast !
Stuart in MN
Well-known member
Nope, it was so long ago I don't think they'd invented alloy cranks yet.Not alloy cranks, eh?
(I still have that bike up in my garage attic, it's a late 1950s J.C. Higgins.)
driftpin
Well-known member
I had a couple of 26" Jamis mountain bikes, Suntour components. Sold one to a friend, still have the other, chromoly steel frame, now w/Deore XT on it after I swapped that gruppo out from a Klein Attitude I bought new, spec'ed w/that. Next year, when the XTR gruppo was released, I had that installed, and put the Deore XT onto the Jamis.
The guy who started Jamis was an attorney in FL. He popularized the 'beach cruiser,' but also had high-end (for the times) MTB's like the Dakar.
A good fix on the snapped-off crank. As soon as I saw the crank, I knew it was an Ashtabula-style. Pretty-sure those are forged, not cast. Left-hand threads are distinguished by markings on the crank arm, on a 3-piece crank. It looks like this: III
The guy who started Jamis was an attorney in FL. He popularized the 'beach cruiser,' but also had high-end (for the times) MTB's like the Dakar.
A good fix on the snapped-off crank. As soon as I saw the crank, I knew it was an Ashtabula-style. Pretty-sure those are forged, not cast. Left-hand threads are distinguished by markings on the crank arm, on a 3-piece crank. It looks like this: III
I was riding a bike in Holland about 25 years ago with a colleague and as we pedaled up an overpass on our way to an appointment, my right pedal snapped off. He looked at it and then asked me, "What are you going to do now?", thinking we would probably be missing our appointment.
I just smiled at him, turned my bike around and coasted back down the overpass to a dumpster near the bottom. I'd noticed part of an old bike behind the dumpster as we passed it a few minutes before. When I got to it, I pulled out a wrench from the little tool kit I always carried with me, removed the broken stub from my bike and then replaced it with a good pedal from the broken junk bike. Fortunately it broke off right at the pedal so I could easily remove it with a wrench.
As I was putting my tools away, I looked up to see him staring at me with his jaw hanging open. I smiled again and then I started back up the overpass. He hadn't known me long and the idea of carrying tools or making my own repairs was completely incomprehensible to him.
I just smiled at him, turned my bike around and coasted back down the overpass to a dumpster near the bottom. I'd noticed part of an old bike behind the dumpster as we passed it a few minutes before. When I got to it, I pulled out a wrench from the little tool kit I always carried with me, removed the broken stub from my bike and then replaced it with a good pedal from the broken junk bike. Fortunately it broke off right at the pedal so I could easily remove it with a wrench.
As I was putting my tools away, I looked up to see him staring at me with his jaw hanging open. I smiled again and then I started back up the overpass. He hadn't known me long and the idea of carrying tools or making my own repairs was completely incomprehensible to him.