Reviews for Mountain Off-Road DPJL18DS Driver Side Dead Pedal for 18-21 Jeep Wrangler JL & Gladiator JT
Like others have said, this is a pain to install. Additionally, the bracket was slightly bent which made it impossible to pass both bolts through the pedal until I bent it back.
I chose the middle setting and it feels perfect. I am 5'8. It makes driving more comfortable.
Many people complained about alignment, when I first removed it from the box, I too thought it didn't align right, but I was using the wrong holes. Second tie a piece of string to the bracket and then tie it off to something that way if it falls you can easily retrieve it. If you have it, put a piece of double sided sticky tape on it and press the mounting bracket and it will hold in place while you screw it in. Overall it's nice and yes it's a PITA to install but if you do those two little things it will go in pretty easy. Also, if you're short like me, the last peddle setting will be too far to be comfortable. Moving the peddle to the next setting will put the nut behind the peddle making install even more of a PITA. Took on star off for installation, otherwise I'd recommended this. BTW it's definitely strong as the biggest man legs wont bend this thing.
First of all, I love this pedal. It's exactly what I wanted -- a place to rest my left foot that is comfortable while driving. I will agree with other reviews that you need to be a bit of a contortionist in order to get this thing installed. And you need a lot of tools that you might not think about. I used an Impact Driver with two different attachments to get the bolts tightened. A standard socket wrench will not work b/c of the lack of space that you have to work in. I had to use extender for the wrench b/c the brake pedal got in the way of installing the rear bolt -- so I had to go in behind the brake pedal with the extender on my Impact Driver. Would have been a 5-star review if not for the difficulty in installing. Good luck.
I got my JL a few weeks ago and quickly found no comfortable place to rest my left leg. This pedal seemed like the perfect solution. Once installed, it does make things far more comfortable. But, as most comments note, installation is...an adventure!
First off, I will say that the pedal is constructed to survive to the next ice age! It's a serious chunk of steel! But, to install, it's basically a one-hand affair, completely blind just by feel. Seriously, the nature of where this thing lives makes it impossible to get both arms to that location while kneeling at the drivers door.
To help the situation, I used a small spring clamp to hold the backing plate with the welded bolts in place against the factory jeep bracket while I carefully hung the pedal on the first bolt. Once I got the washer/nut started on the most forward and visible bolt I removed the spring clamp. Then it was a matter of locating the rear bolt into the bracket hole. This is done blind since the pedal covers the hole. Putting the washer and nut on that last bolt is done by feel too. Unfortunately, I dropped and lost a nut behind the plastic kick trim...Ugh! I'm yet to recover it since not sure how difficult it is to remove this trim. But, a quick trip to hardware store got a replacement. To be able to tighten this nut once hand started, you will absolutely need socket extensions and a u-joint can help. You just have to feel for socket engagement on the nut, because you can't see it.
Now I have it installed, it works great and far more comfortable. But it is an hours long, sweaty and cursing installation process. And, if I can ever retrieve that lost nut...
Once I got the product installed, I really like it. Can't believe that Jeep did not include dead pedal to begin with, but the MORE pedal looks the business and is very well made.
My installation experience was less than smooth for something that is essentially held together with 3 screws. (It looked so simple in the instructions....) Here is the rub:
- My 2D JLR is so tight that it makes it almost impossible to contort yourself to get both hands into the kick area. (and you WILL need both hands). Probably would be easier to get at if I removed the seat. (I am 6'3" so maybe this won't be a problem for the more petite Jeep lovers :) )
- You need to remove the kick panel for when you inevitably drop the blind bolt piece trying to get it behind the steel member. It also makes it easire to hold the Blind plate in place during the step below.
-At least in my rig, the back of the mounting plate (closest to the rear of the vehicle) has a very tight fit to the wire bundle that is secured to the steel member. Combined with the "blind mans bluff" you need to play in order to get the plate to go over the blind bolts, it makes for an interesting adventure (lots of swearing!).
- Make sure you get the allen screw and nut that holds the pedal to the mounting bracket TIGHT! before you go through the trouble of mounting the assembly in the car. I also used a little blue loctite. While you can (barely) get a wrench on the bolt if (when) it comes loose, the fact that the bolt is not captured means that it will spin when you try to tighten it. Seems like this could be a potential design improvement for the future.
All this said, be brave and persistent and you will have a killer dead pedal.
Great product, makes driving comfortable. A pure #@!* to install. Took me about 25 minutes of fiddling. For me, it helped to get the rearward washer and nut on first, then block up the bottom of the pedal so it couldn't drop forward to get the second washer and nut on the post. Other posts indicate zip tying the back brace on and then mounting the dead pedal. I'm 5'7", and I mounted the pedal all the way forward (closest to the firewall). I think if you tried to mount the pedal in the middle position, you'd never be able to install it.
Great product , engineering so-so. Install made it loose a star.
So I'm 6'6" and the reason I got this pedal was to keep my knee from hitting the door lock button repeatedly. The reason for the 4 stars, was only the instructions not the product. It took the better part of 3 hours to get it in place using the installation instructions. I might have missed something but the rest of the guys apparently have had the same problems. What I did was remove the kick panel to see what I was doing. After that, I took a zip tie to keep the mounting bracket in place. Since I am so tall, i had the pedal in the lowest setting, and the nut still had to behind the pedal. With it zipped in place, it was easy to start the nut. Use a 6 inch extension, a universal joint, and a 3 inch extension to get to the nut. The band in the joint allows the ratchet to come out from behind the pedals so you can get leverage. Then it's easy from there. After all that, I removed the pedal and went by the way I did it and it only took a half an hour. This pedal is the best thing I've bought for the JL and would go through all the hassle again just for the comfort it gives my left leg. Thanks guys!
Installation was not bad but I had to drill the holes in the mounting plate 2 sizes bigger in order for the studs to slide through, I believe the studs are somewhat tipped from them being welded. Once I drilled the holes a tad bigger everything went together.
WOW...great product, but BRUTAL install. Two install hacks: 1) once the plate is installed, stuff paper from the delivery box behind it so it doesn't fall out, and 2) use the delivery box to hold the pedal up once its aligned with the bolts (so the pedal doesn't fall off the bolts before you can screw the nuts on).
Overall, very good product and great quality. Install is not too bad. Make sure you use some tape to secure the backing plate, per the instructions. It makes install a lot easier. I love the look, and the functionality of the MORE dead pedal. However I do have a big complaint. I can't give anything over 3 stars to any manufacturer that uses SAE hardware on late model Jeeps. Pretty much EVERY car manufacturer in the world, including US companies have been metric for years and years. It would be really nice to trash my SAE tools and throw a party, but thanks to companies like this, I need to keep a set of tools based on an arbitrary and antiquated system of measure.