Reviews for Mountain Off-Road DPJL18DS Driver Side Dead Pedal for 18-21 Jeep Wrangler JL & Gladiator JT
The preceding reviews about what a PITA it is to install this pedal are not exaggerations. I just finished installing it in my 2019 JL four door. It took me about 45 minutes including various trips back to my basement to retrieve additional tools and whatnot. Hopefully the following tips will help you avoid some of the frustration I had getting this sucker installed. Before you start, put on one of those headlamp flashlights that mount on your head with an elastic strap. This is essential because it's dark under your dash even on a sunny day. Then, check the pedal bracket to make sure the bolts will all fit through their respective holes. One of the bolt-holes in the unit I bought had a burr in it that prevented the bolt from fitting through, so I had to ream that out with a drill. Easy fix but a little annoying. Next, before you try positioning the backing plate where it needs to go behind the metal plate in your Jeep's footwell, tie a string around it so you won't lose it behind the plastic kick panel. Getting the backing plate into place with your fingers is very difficult because of the tight space but I had success holding it with a pair of needle-nose pliers. They enabled me to put enough back pressure on the plate to line up the welded bolts and get them through the existing holes in the Jeep frame. As soon as I got the backing plate into place I taped it as securely as I could from behind with duct tape. Some commenters suggested blue painter's tape but you'll want something a little more secure than that to keep it in place as you fiddle with mounting the pedal bracket to the backing plate. Another commenter suggested stuffing a rag behind it, which could also work. Mounting the pedal and bracket is a lot harder than it should be because on the 2019 JL there is a section of vertical-hanging wiring harness that's in the way of where the pedal bracket needs to mount. The bracket will not go into place unless you push that wiring harness slightly toward the rear of your Jeep. That section of the wiring harness is held tightly in place by two zip ties, which you'll need to cut in order to allow the pedal bracket to fit into place over the two welded bolts of the backing plate. Cutting those two zip ties does not appear to create any problem for the wiring harness -- it's fastened at several other places so the two zip ties you'll have to cut aren't going to bother anything; removing them will just give you some wiggle room to get the bracket into place. You'll also need to be sure the bottom edge of the pedal bracket is behind the top edge of the plastic kick panel. If the bracket is outside the kick panel, she won't go on. Once you get the pedal bracket into position, it should slide relatively easily over the two welded bolts and you'll be ready to bolt the pedal bracket to the backing plate. I used a 7/16" socket with a 5" mini ratchet handle to tighten the two stop-nuts. There's no way an ordinary size ratchet handle would fit up in that tight space. Tighten those stop nuts and you're done. The right side of my rib cage is sore from lying across my Jeep's door sill for the last hour, but at least the pedal is in, and my first road test made my left foot feel like it finally has a place to rest. I gave this item three stars because of the substantial hassle factor in installation. Hope these tips help. Good luck!
It's OK, but it's is a little too far forward for me. A little harder to install than what the instructors said
I had the MORE dead pedal in my old JK.....loved it! Super easy install/mod. As others have stated...total PITA for the JL or my JT. Two hours later and it is in and works great....for the install issues it should give a foot massage every time you rest your left foot on it.
I cannot in good conscience give this more than three stars due to the difficulty of the installation. Twice I lost nuts behind the trim panel underneath the bolting location of this thing. In retrospect, I'd still buy this but I would know to do the following: 1) but a small washcloth or sponge just below the bolting location to catch any nuts or washers you will inevitably lose your grip on, 2) use a zip tie to fasten the back fastener behind the steel panel (you'll know what I mean) - this step is critical, and 3) go to your hardware store and buy two 1/4" combination nut/washers (sorry I don't know what to call them) and thank me later. If you are like me and install this in the "middle" receiver for your foot depth the install becomes insanely hard and these steps are necessary. Now that it's in, it feels great.
I like the pedal. But as many others have stated, it is quite difficult to install. Zip ties definitely helped. (So did being a contortionist)
We've had two JKUs, and we installed M.O.R.E. Dead Pedals in both. They are awesome! When I got my new JL, we just knew we had to get a new one for this Jeep. We didn't even hesitate to buy the M.O.R.E. because we were so happy with the others. Let me tell you that this install was HORRIBLE! The bracket was SO hard to get in place, then trying to HOLD it in place while you attached the pedal assembly was next to impossible!!! I tried to do it. I gave up and asked my daughter to try, since she can get in the seat and turn around backwards and roll on her back to be able to see under the steering wheel and she couldn't even figure it out. It was just too tight! We finally resorted to calling my husband and he got so frustrated with it, he pulled off the trim around it. However the tolerance between the nut and the bracket is so tight we can't get the pedal tight!! Someone should SERIOUSLY rethink the attachment of this pedal. I SO wanted to love it and I am just so disappointed at the end of all this frustration. Made working on my jeep not even fun. :(
High quality pedal and very solid once installed. However, installing it is a hassle. I'm 5' 10" and installed the peddle in the middle position on the bracket. That means one of the nuts has to be installed and tightened behind the pedal. Impossible to see and unless you have a socket wrench with a very long extension, almost impossible to tighten. Got it done but way harder than it should be.
A bit fiddly (hence difficulty level2), great quality and a couple of dumb things! Not quite as easy as Rob in the video suggests. A couple of tips that could help you: I tied a string around it so if it fell down below, I could easily retrieve it, I used double sided tape on the side that faced the brace so it would stay in place when I attached the foot pedal so it wouldn't slide it back out of the holes. That all went well, drilling was fine but two big things you want to keep in mind: If you put the pedal in the middle position, lots of luck trying to put on the nut and then tighten it because the pedal comes down right in the way so you have to be a contortionist to get the back nut started, and the second thing that really surprised me was the back nut is so close to the pedal assembly that the wide of the socket wall prevents getting it on the nut! I'm not sure if mine is off a bit but this makes for a nylock nut to be wound on with an open end wrench for 20 minutes in a very small space. Other than a little more thinking from the engineering department, I would recommend and it feels great.
They need to have their engineers actually install a few of these in a JL using common tools, then go back and make it easier to install given the location. The bolt holes don't line up to the jeep holes well, and unless their buyers are all contortionist dwarfs it is way too hard of install.
If I didn’t have a drill and a fairly decent drill press to reset the holes on both the mounting plate and on the mounting bracket itself (a part in the kit that’s sent) this item would’ve been returned and a rating would’ve been 0 stars. Bottom line, the welded mounting screws were 1/16th to 1/8th off the hole pattern on the car frame. What’s even more surprising is that these same welded screws didn’t match the main mounting bracket in the parts kit that was sent. Again, they were about 1/16 to 1/8 of an inch off. I had to drill both out to get everything to fit. Finally, didn’t follow the install instructions and don’t try to mount the pedal on anything other than the forward position. Match each part to the hole pattern first. RE drill one of the holes if the pattern doesn’t match. Then install the mounting bracket with the welded screws and use a piece of tape to keep it in place. Next assemble the main bracket and the pedal (forward position) and install the assembly. Good luck squeezing yourself and the tools you’ll need into the extremely tight space. I finally got everything installed on the 3rd attempt and I am 5’10” and skinny.