I am a first year middle school band director. I two broken timpani. One pedal wont go down. The other one wont go up. How do I adjust these pedals so that they stay in the position I set them instead of floating back to their original position?

Hey, I`m only 14 but i play allot of timpani. And on the tuning pedals on most timpanis i think the have like a little bar that if you were to like put your foot on the peddle and twist your foot to the left the right side of your heel should push the bar so that you can adjust your pedal. And when your done tuning it you should be able to twist you foot the other direction and it should lock the position of where you tuned tou timpani on the tuning pedal.
I really hoped that helped and like i said im only 14 and in my 3rd year, so if i didnt completely answer your question just say so.

it me again! i just realized that my info was completely usless because your timpanis are >broken<, haha! my bad

hi- it sounds like you have ludwig "balanced action" pedal drums (the pedal is like the gas pedal on a car and doesn`t lock in any position. if so, the drums simply need to be adjusted.
check out or call the ludwig co.for more info. however if you really want to try this yourself, here`[s a little info- you need to set the lowest note on the drum by turning the lugs around the head while keeping the pedal in the lowest pitch position( heel portion on the floor the entire time. lowest note on a 26" is C and lowest note on 29" is F. you may also have to adjust the main tension rod, which is probably looks like a hot water valve just in front of the pedal, but do this as a last resort.

But, if you're poor like my director and want a quick fix, wedging a drum stick between the bottom of the pedal and the pedal mount should maintain the note you want to play. The only downside of this is the tuning takes a while to set.

We have 3 timpanies with broken pedals at my school and this has worked okay so far.