Reviews for Mountain Off-Road DPJL18DS Driver Side Dead Pedal for 18-21 Jeep Wrangler JL & Gladiator JT
Great product...once installed. Terrible design. Need to be a 5' 2" gymnast to get to the mounting plate. Follow the you tube video its very helpful
The MORE dead pedal looks good upon opening the box, however, the downfall is in the details. First, the parts provided were incomplete; the 5/16” flat washer listed was missing (this is a common annoyance with cheepo Chinese crap and is a pet peeve of mine). Second, the welded bolts on the backing plate were not properly aligned to be squared with the plate and, therefore, did not even go into the holes on their mounting bracket. This is totally unacceptable. A simple QC check by the manufacturer could readily flag this. Therefore, be sure to check this before getting the backing plate in place only to find that you can’t get the mounting bracket onto the studs. I had to bend one of the studs to get them to get them into the mounting bracket. Geesch! Overall installation was a gymnastics affair as other reviewers have noted, but the missing parts and misalignment issues were a bigger downer for this product.
I’m giving 3 stars because clearly no one test fit the welded bolt bracket to the pedal bracket. The welded bolts were obviously not straight and did not match the holes in the pedal bracket. Because they did not match up well, this already difficult install became even more difficult. It’s a 5 second quality control step that would save customers a lot of swearing during this install. The pedal is well built otherwise.
NIce and strong but getting it mounted just right is a real PITA. Unfortunately if you don;t like one of the three settings it is a pain to remove the entire pedal, reposition on the next of three selectable distances and then remount. The problem lies with the bracket that you are trying to attach to. It wants to push back out but the worst part is that when you position the pedal for testing, the mounting bracket actually deforms around to frame bracket you are mounting to. It isn’t a flat price of metal, mounting against a flat piece of metal and actually bends a bit as you tighten it down. So when you go to reposition the pedal the holes are off just a enough to not easily go. Back. So learning from me is that don’t tighten the Pedal too much until you are sure as you’ll have to remove the mounting bracket and re-straighten before the pedal will remount. As I said the pedal is well made but it would be better if it was more easily adjustable. Cost me a couple of hours in having to remove completely, straighten, then remount. Ended up removing footwell trim panels so that I could put some duct tape on the bracket to hold it in place as I replaced the pedal. Would be great to call out this in the install instructions or create a mounting backing plate that is custom molded to fit the jeep structural member that you are attaching to. I ended up on the middle of the three positions. I’m 6.2 but my wife is only 5’7” so needed to be a little closer for her comfort. The other good thing about this pedal is that it doesn’t interfere with whatever floor Matt solution you are using. So 5 stars on quality, three on instructions.
Build to last, highest quality, etc - 5 star worthy. However, in terms of installation logistics, would give it 1 star. This maybe the most difficult/frustrating thing I have ever installed, and I done it all over the years. Someone needs to think about a better way to apply this product. It borders on nearly impossible and due to too much precision on hole diameters and stud spacing, you will need to drill to create some wiggle room to aid installation. There's got to be a better way to install this product. Be prepared to throw things :-)
Very hard to install. Once installed works well. It gives my left foot the rest it needs.
It would be beneficial to be a 110 pound gymnast in order to install. As a 70 year old, more than 110 pound guy, it was almost impossible. I'm sure I'll enjoy, and I'm glad it's done - but if I knew how hard the install was going to be ....
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.