Pedal Arm coming loose... How to fix it?

[Pulse]

I'm having to tighten my pedal arm every couple of miles at the moment, so obviously there is something wrong with it!

How do I go about fixing this? Bike has probably only done around 500 miles. Had it since the middle of this year.

[groomi]

If the crank has been loose for some time and you've been riding it then it may be chewed up and impossible to retighten. However, you need to try to fix it properly first.

Put a plank of wood on the ground and lay your bike down so the opposite crank is resting on the wood. Remove the nut/bolt from the centre of the loose crank. Find an old socket that fits snugly into the hole where you've just remove the nut/bolt - it needs to rest securely on the lip that the nut/bolt was tightened against. Make sure the crank is postitioned correctly and give the socket a coupe of whacks with a large hammer or mallet. (You may want to protect the socket with another block of wood). There should now be no play in the crank, so you can refit the nut/bolt and tighten.

If it still works loose after that, then I would suggest you need a new crank.

[Pulse]

groomi said:

If the crank has been loose for some time and you've been riding it then it may be chewed up and impossible to retighten. However, you need to try to fix it properly first.

Put a plank of wood on the ground and lay your bike down so the opposite crank is resting on the wood. Remove the nut/bolt from the centre of the loose crank. Find an old socket that fits snugly into the hole where you've just remove the nut/bolt - it needs to rest securely on the lip that the nut/bolt was tightened against. Make sure the crank is postitioned correctly and give the socket a coupe of whacks with a large hammer or mallet. (You may want to protect the socket with another block of wood). There should now be no play in the crank, so you can refit the nut/bolt and tighten.

If it still works loose after that, then I would suggest you need a new crank.

Thanks for the advice. It just came loose the other day. Didn't seem to be any reason why. Since then I've taken it on a couple of rides.

Since the bike is under a year old, isn't this sort of thing covered under warranty?

[P-Jay]

Not sure if you're a roadie or an MTB'er but if it's any sort of Truitive crank, especially the Stylo the only remedy to to bin it and buy a Shimano.

Edited by P-Jay on Tuesday 16th September 11:00

[Pulse]

P-Jay said:

Not sure if you're a roadie or an MTB'er but if it's any sort of Truitive crank, especially the Stylo the only remedy to to bin it and buy a Shimano.

Edited by P-Jay on Tuesday 16th September 11:00

It's a 2007 GT Chucker. Not sure what it has.

[JPJ]

Same if it's a square taper interface - you need to get it on tight, but if it's coming loose that often then it means the square hole in the crank arm has deformed slightly and you aren't going to recover the situation I'm afraid.

[Pulse]

That's a tad annoying. Is there maybe a photo tutorial on how to have a go at tightening it?

If it's buggered, I'll be ringing the place I bought it from, that's for sure!