Is there a way to straighten bent pedals?

[Nightrider]

I havde a pair of late 40,'s western flyer pedals. They are super cool, and also bent. I'd like to straighten them but I can't figure out how to get the bearing cups and shaft tube off of the pedal shaft. Is there a way to separate these pieces?
Stumped,
Johnny

 

[CCR]

got a pic? a lot of pedals were crimped together which can be taken apart, but more often then not, they end up getting destroyed in the process. i usually pitch them when bent unless they are in great shape otherwise.

 

[Uncle Stretch]

May not be the right way , but I put them on a bike/crank and with the high spot up, lightly whack them with a rubber hammer. It will straighten them out. It dosen't take much and most are bent when you drop a bike on its side. :wink:

 

[Nightrider]

Yeah, pedals are like new(except ben) no rust at all. Will post a pic later.May try the rubber mallet trick.
Thanks

 

[Gold Street Customs]

Yeah, pedals are like new(except ben) no rust at all. Will post a pic later.May try the rubber mallet trick.
Thanks

+1

 

[user 135]

I would advise not trying Uncle Stretch's technique with alloy/aluminum cranks. Also don't run bent pedals in alloy cranks. It may auger out the threads. I learned the hard way.

Sent from my ADR6425LVW using Tapatalk 2

 

[Jpromo]

If they're unserviceable pedals (crimped together instead of nut and bolt) I clamp two 2x4s a couple feet in length longways onto the pedal rubber but leave the axle exposed. Look closely at the axle as you rotate it, look for the bend, then clamp the axle in a vice and push on the wood the opposite way of the bend, to counteract it.

Did that make any sense? I've straightened a dozen or so pedals like this and it works wonders with calculated pressure, it's just hard to explain without a photograph of my contraption

 

[Uncle Stretch]

Ok Clancy is right, I don't have anything with alloy cranks so I don't think like that. Find a steel crank on a bike and try. Its not like you have to really hammer them. Tap it a little and you will be surprised how easy they go back to right. Then spin it around a little to see if you fixed it.

Sent from my white Macbook using two fingers. :lol:

 

[user 135]

Sent from my white Macbook using two fingers. :lol:

MacBook sounds fancier than ADR6425LVW :wink: And I use 2 thumbs.

 

[Nightrider]

Did the rubber mallet method. Worked like a charm! I put a bolck of wood over the pedal blocks, bend facing up, gave it a few good licks with the mallet, and just like new. They were really bent, about a 1/2' out of square, and i used a dead blow hammer instead. Oiled them up and they spin for a good 10 to 15 seconds. I'll post pictures of them tomarrow, you'll see why I had to save them!
I love this site!!!!
Johnny

 

[vintage '53]

Sorry I'm a couple days late, but thought this info could add a little more to this thread. I saw a clever tool at the Ann Arbor - Saline swap on Sunday. Had no idea at first what I was looking at. It was solid steel bar about 7/8" or 1" diameter, 18" long, with holes threaded for 1/2" on one end, 9/16" on the other. Vendor says "That's a pedal straightener". He explained that you clamp the pedal (protected) in a vise, threaded end up, with the bar screwed tight onto the threads. Rotating the bar, it will wobble and show which way the pedal stem is bent. Then just apply gentle pressure to straighten. Same idea as Jpromo outlined in his post, just a little more technically engineered. The kicker was, guy wanted $60 for this tool :shock: !

 

[gcrank1]

That would be a crank arm straightener, which does nothing for a bent pedal shaft. Brings to mind that we have to identify the culprit before trying to fix it.

 

[SILVERKINGPC]

I have 3 or 4 pairs of older and good quality re-buildable pedals picked off ebay. Half of the time, at least one of the shafts is bent and this is No Bueno. I take the chance anyway if the pics show them to be good shape, but the bent shafts ruined my investment. I ran into a thread on The Cabe that addresses different ways to do it, some of which are mentioned above. I found this technique to work the best so far. I have tried it all, including the wham-o-bam-o technique with a hammer, vices, bars, etc. but there is a more precise and intelligent way to do it, as well as very effective.
1.) Get yourself an old bent 1-piece 1/2" crank you must have laying around.
2.) Clamp the pedal onto your bench like below. Leave it clamped to the bench.
3.) Spin the bent pedal shaft and find the exact spot the threaded end runs high, then mark it with a black felt tipped pen.
4.) Thread your old crankshaft lever almost all the way onto the pedal still clamped to the bench(have a pedal wrench handy) Find the high spot. Position the crank arm exactly perpendicular to your mark on the shaft.
5.) Gently push or pull (don't be shy) on your long crank lever the opposite direction of the mark, depending on the direction of the bend.
6.) Unscrew the crankshaft lever from the pedal shaft and spin it to check if it worked. Repeat.

Make sure the play is taken out of the bearing cones before doing this! You may damage the races and/or cones if the play is not taken out first. Smacking the pedal hard with a mallet WILL damage the bearings, races or cones as well. This is why the slow-go pry method works so well. Incredibly effective way to do it...SKPC

 

[uneasy rider]

fwiw, read this thread and went to straighten a couple bents i had. first one, vise and crank arm method worked great. second one broke the pedal shaft as i pulled on it, just my experience... no complaints, pedal was useless as is, and i did crash pretty hard to bend it, no doubt weakening it. i'm guessing as with other stuff, pedals vary as to metals used in their construction, some harder/more brittle than others.