Hanging Pedals

Guys, maybe a dumb question, but why are hanging pedals considered an upgrade, and why?

 

1) So you don't have open holes in the floor blowing cold air in your face.
2) Easy to add power brake booster.

 

Yep...........and gets all the hardware out of the mud into a cleaner place , some say the ergonomics of the pedal location.

 

The only reason I did it was for power brakes. Other than that, there is no real advantage and I kinda like the through the floor look anyway. There is really no good way to add power brakes cheap and effectively with modern easily available parts unless you go hanging. All said and done it was well worth the effort.

 

Just easier to do any kind of master cylinder work when it's hanging on the firewall compared to under the floor. Even something as simple as checking the fluid level. While checking the fluid level/filling one under the floor isn't the worst thing in the world, it's 10x harder than doing the same thing to one on your firewall.

And, if you're into running through mud holes, the mud that gets all over the master cylinder (and the rest of the underside of the JEEP) can easily contaminate the reservoirs if you don't take care to clean it up very well before popping the cap. BTDT. That problem is pretty much non existent when the master cylinder is on the firewall.

 

Another good reason for hangers, is that all the linkage that is required under the floor, wears out a lot quicker and gets sloppy after a while. ( from muddy water, gravel, mud) Even hanging a master cylinder for your clutch slave, if you decided to go that way, is easier, if you hang peddles. I did one of my Jeeps with an XJ set up and the other with Wilwood pedals. Both work well. I'm glad I did it. But there are those that wouldn't do it, just because it isn't stock looking, but for me it was a matter of just working better and I felt safer. JM2C's

 

All fair comments.

On the other hand, for over 50 years I have somehow survived with the stock underfloor master, in several jeeps, without any problem.

 

I was always ok with the stock setup. When properly serviced, everything works just fine.

I started running into problems when I got into serious rock crawling. There's nothing as confusing as when you drop your frame onto a rock, and it happens to land right on your clutch pivot. You sit there for a few seconds, staring at your clutch pedal like an idiot, wondering why it stuck to the floor. It happened quite often, and every time I sat and stared. I eventually made a skid plate/box for it out of a section of an old front bumper.

 

Another issue is when you get the stock tube and crank clutch linkage all twisted up in the frame when driving off road and it won't work anymore. Can cause a little bit of panic. I bet the cable setup would remedy that and definitely the hanging pedal setup.

 

One other thing for folks looking at engines and such, the brake master can interfere with a larger bellhousing. Also, I havent seen a under floor hydraulic clutch setup.

 

Jeep stayed with the cable through 1972, then changed back to a bell crank for 1973. The '73 and later bell crank has similar "twisted up" problems, where one front wheel hanging and the other stuffed disables the clutch action.

I wonder why Jeep would use the through-the-floor pedals as long as they did. I presume the pedals originate with the Austin Bantam and other vehicles of similar 1930s vintage. There must have been hanging pedals in common use before 1971 ...

 

Who is a good supplier for hanging pedals?

 

People have used pedals from lots of sources. Later CJ's, XJ's, etc. Often they will need to be modified. The floors are different so the angles of the pedals need to change. Some will also need to be shortened. I've looked for a plan but not seen very good measurements.

I have a set from an Intermediate CJ I'm trying to put on a later CJ wtih a fiberglass tub. Lots of changes need to be made to get everything to work.

 

My guess is it goes back to mechanical (non-hydraulic) brake sysytems and all the linkages were under the floor. Used at least until mid-Thirties, which wasn't very many years before the Jeep was born, when you think about it.

Plus, it wasn't until about the Sixties that "unitary" or "unibody" cars became a common structural design and mounted running gear components on the cabin 'skin'. Earlier automotive thinking mounted everything mechanical to the massive chassis, then dropped the body on as an entirely separate matter.

 

intermediate to early isn't terribly hard, didn't even have to change the pedal location when i swapped em into the boys 70