Do I need special equipment? Is there a specific sequence I should remember? I’m taking off some old Look pedals from my road bike and replacing them with some Time RXS pedals (I already have them on my TT bike).
Dave in VA
All you ever wanted to about removing pedals:
Thanks!
Dave in VA
Be sure and set up your pedal wrench on the drive side so that if you slip, your knuckles go away from the chain rings and not towards them. The teeth are sharper than they look. If the pedals are tight, get a helper to hold the opposite pedal.
“Be sure and set up your pedal wrench on the drive side so that if you slip, your knuckles go away from the chain rings and not towards them. The teeth are sharper than they look.”
Man, you posted this about a day late. I did the very thing yesterday and drove a tooth under my fingernail. Sucker still hurts.
Hey DC
the only prob with time pedals(well it’s not really a problem) is that you can not use a pedal wrench on them. you have to use an allen key from the back side of the crank. i like to put the bike so that the front wheel is on my left hand side, when you put the allen key in the pedal put the lever end to the right (or to the back of the bike) and push down, and that works for right and left pedals.
and i just got a set of RXS also, very nice Pedals!!
dan…
YES always always have the chain on the large ring…I have a nasty scar on my arm where i put the chain rings into the bone taking off a pedal…oops…
If you haven’t done it before remember that the left pedal (the one without the chain-ring) is left-hand threaded (clock-wise to loosen it).
A quick way to remember how to remove pedals is that from above one has to turn the pedal wrench towards the chainstay to remove on each side. The bottom bracket cups (for most styles) are the reverse. Getting this wrongs leads to no end of trouble.
Others may disagree, but I like to put some grease on the threads of the pedals before I install them to make removing them that much easier in the future.
They are threaded in such a fashion that they shouldn’t unscrew during use, even if you don’t tighten them too much.
The rule to remember is that they tighten going toward the front of the bike, and they both loosen turning toward the rear. That way you never have to remember which is a reversed and which one is “normal”. If you let them sit for months/years you may need a big lever to get them to move at all.
It is real easy to crossthread the pedals so be very careful when you do this procedure. That means you messed up the crank and or pedals. Sometimes a bike shop can retap the cranks so if you mess up stop and put the wrench down.
It is really not that hard just be careful and you should have no problems. G
Thanks for the informative post. A week too late. 
I also like Phil Wood grease, but…for the life of me can’t figure out why they have to call it waterproof. Is this different than their non-waterproof grease on the market?
Shit…Ouch…BLOODY KNUCKLES. Man, I just ripped a 1/2 inch gash on my left hand. You should have recommended hockey gloves for this job.
Dave in VA
Others may disagree, but I like to put some grease on the threads of the pedals before I install them to make removing them that much easier in the future.
They are threaded in such a fashion that they shouldn’t unscrew during use, even if you don’t tighten them too much.
Disagree?! Absolutely grease the pedal threads!
OUCH, done that a few times… Well, its better than sawing your finger in front of a customer… and having to rush to the ER (ha ha…)
The rule to remember is that they tighten going toward the front of the bike, and they both loosen turning toward the rear.
thanks for that rule of thumb - I always have to exert way too much brain power to figure out which direction to torque.
cheers.
Oh yeah, a lot of us use an old pair of full finger cycling gloves or any well fitting full finger leather glove when doing the pedal thing. And, a cheater bar is OK if you use a high quality pedal wrench that fits the pedal flats closely. For really tight pedals (or customer cross threaded pedals) I’ve used a big rubber headed mallet to break tension.
Finally, you really don’t have to reef on those babies when putting them back on. It’s hard to get a torque wrench on those (although I think I’ve seen an open ended socket before) but lots of folks like to really crank on 'em because they can get leverage. Snug is fine; no need to jump on the wrench.
OK, after completely soaking 5 large gauze pads with blood I think I’m going to try this again tonight, this time I’ll wear some old hockey gloves for protection.
Dave in VA