Well, I got ‘em spinning at least a bit after getting them off the bike and managing to get lubrication in from the inner side.
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@pws Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to be an actual dust cover. I tried to remove it, it's integral to the rest of the plastic cover.
i had to get a knife to even poke at it and it's like "well hell, that's not a cover"
which honestly makes sense if it's a $1 pedal literally no one is ever going to service, that way it'll never come off, right?
@moira Yeah it may not be practical to service it, and that might not go anywhere even if you did get at the internals, but I expect you can probably destroy that part of the pedal to get access to it if you want to go all-in on removal and get the pedal body off. Nylon pedals are easily destroyed with a hacksaw or grinder. Sometimes the only thing inside it is a plastic sleeve bearing between the pedal body and the spindle.
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@moz I've only had any penetrating oil work once - and I've been using it on this, hoping I'd get a second dip into that glorious well, but so far, no good.
(I've gone several rounds of oil over multiple days so there's no shortage of application or time.)
both the pedal and the crank are magnetic so i don't have alumininum-iron welding but i 50000% can't rule out that they didn't just rust together into a solid object :/
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@moz yes i know how pedals unscrew
and i'm using the adjustable Crescent (branded) spanner i have. i don't have like... some kind of mechanic's set. but those are good tools.
(good enough as in I've kind of... pulled the shitty metal of the pedal around a bit trying to turn it. This is the one that has the up and down part. :/ )
and that would be good except this one is REALLY not in good shape and I still cannot get it removed.
kinda feels like there’s literally a missing piece here?
@moira Nice! How'd you end up getting it off?
@moira Oof, I would not mash on that pedal up a hill!
@moira When I ran into this, I took the bike to a shop just to get the pedals removed. it didn't cost much.
@thatKomputerKat the point of this is learning how to do it
(not that any shop would actually want to work on this bike; i mean, okay, they might remove the pedals, but they wouldn't do any of the rest. it was <$300 _new_.)
@moira @thatKomputerKat I like the bike shop idea. You should be able to put a spanner on that (it still looks mostly flat), tap it and have it come off. It's not cheating if there's something weird - like metal bonding - going on. At least let them tell you that it's hopeless.
but wait my story gets worse
In addition to not coming off that crank no matter what I do (I haven't tried heat but that'll just melt the plastic and then everyone loses), the crank doesn't have a nondestructive way to be removed from the front gearset. or if it does, it's buried under that plastic which I can't find a way to remove.
it's very frustrating, I want to put handle grips back on this bike and give it away but I don't know I can with this combination of problems
@moira hmm. do you have an oscillating trim saw? I’ve used those and my reciprocating saw on all kinds of things (without a blade!) to rattle parts apart.
@badsamurai I do not. I did hammer on it (through a metal rod) for a good amount of time tho'. didn't care.
i'd use a torch but, again, plastic everywhere :-p
@moira What if you take the dust cover off the end of the pedal, get at the nut(s) holding it onto the spindle, pull the pedal body off, and then have better access to the wrench flats? That would allow you to clamp it in a vise...
Alternately, take the dust cover off, do not disassemble the pedal, but see if it's possible to get a better bearing adjustment and soak it with lube from that side as well. Question is whether the slop in it is caused by poor adjustment or if one of the bearing races has come unstuck and the thing is really falling apart inside.