2011 5.0L Clutch Pedal Issue Fix

Jared@Lethal

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For those that have been following the progress of our car you know that we experienced a similar issue that others have seen where the clutch pedal sticks to the floor after high rpm shifts. We only experienced this once the stock rev limiter was raised and we started shifting the car at 7000+rpm's. What happened was during the 1-2 as we as the 2nd-3rd gear shift the clutch pedal seemed to want to stay at the floor preventing the clutch from re-engaging. Definitely not a good thing for drag racing. Shifting the car itself wasn't the issue as the transmission is smooth as can be and the shifter is really easy to use but again it was the issue of the clutch pedal sticking to the floor keeping the clutch from re-engaging.


After speaking to a few others that had experienced the same thing we finally started hearing what the issue was. Supposedly it was the clutch box pedal assembly. A TSB to this date has not been made for it but there was a control number issued. The word was that the clutch box pedal assembly needed to be replaced with one from a GT500. We obtained the part number from our friends at Lamotta Performance (Thanks Jake!!) and ordered one up.

As we waited for the assembly to show up we put a Mcleod RXT twin disc clutch kit in the car compliments of our good friends at Mcleod. After the install which went great the clutch pedal seemed even lighter than stock. However I believe that the installation of the clutch made it easier to feel the problem in the stock clutch pedal assembly. The best way to describe it was that the clutch pedal just felt lazy coming back off the floor. It was weird though as it seemed there was a point just a few inches off the floor that it was binding and then it would finally spring back. I knew this wasn't the clutch and it really became apparent that there was definitely an issue with the pedal assembly. At this point we had not received the replacement pedal assembly so I started thinking of another fix. If we were to use a pedal stop to prevent the pedal from passing the point to where it was binding when pressed in it would eliminate the bind in the pedal when the clutch was depressed. Just as we were speaking about this in the office guess what? The new clutch pedal assembly arrived.

So we had Derek go right to work on the car and pulled the stock pedal assembly out to compare to the one off of the GT500. Here's a few pictures with a few notes which should hopefully help others to see what's going on.

GT500 assembly is on the Left. Stock 2011 GT assembly is on the right.
photo2.jpg


Stock 2011 GT assembly- Take a look at the spring mechanism. It's a completely new design than the GT500 has. The rebound spring is separate from the main pivot shaft that the clutch and brake pedal work off of.
photo4.jpg


Stock GT500 assembly-Now take a close look at the way the spring is used on main shaft in this assembly where both the clutch and brake pedals pivot on. Even outside of the car when you press in the clutch pedal on the GT500 assembly the clutch is smooth all the way in and released smooth all the way out. What happens on the 2011 GT assembly is after it's pressed in and starts being released you can feel a bind in the pedal as it tries to pivot with the new spring setup. It seems to be the spring itself but also how it pivots in it's new location. After installing the new GT500 assembly in the car you can press the clutch in and let go of it and it springs right back. There's no binding at all and doesn't feel lazy to come back off of the floor. At this point we're pretty confident that the pedal issue is fixed. The clutch pedal now feels just as smooth as it did on our 2010 GT500 which felt awesome. We'll be taking the car to the track on Friday just to be sure but from what we can see it looks like the 2011 clutch box pedal assembly has some issues that definitely caused problems us shifting in the higher rpm's.

photo1.jpg




Hope that helps some of the guys out there that experienced the same thing we did.

Jared
 
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fdjizm

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Nice, thought it was more complicated than the return spring.
 

cobra mike

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probly on our own, ford will just tell you not to rev it up high and it will be fine...lol..
 

carbd86gt

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if you dont mind me asking how much was the gt500 assembly?

Ford wants about $200 for the assembly, but we have a great Ford dealer we do high volume with so we can sell them for about $150. A 2011 GT500 brake light switch may be necessary also as our brake lights stay on all the time now, so I have a switch that will be here today to test out.

probly on our own, ford will just tell you not to rev it up high and it will be fine...lol..

Those were my thoughts as well, lol.
 

5.0 Stallion

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Hey guys i ran into that same problem with clutch pedal issue i actually took my car to my local dealer here in San Antonio and they are actually replacing the pedal clutch assembly for me they did not give me a hard time about it. My dealer called ford to see what it could possibly be and they told them that the spring in the pedal was to weak for the power it makes so they just shipped a new pedal clutch assembly kit that could handle the power and my car should be ready by tomorrow so yes they are replacing them from the dealer. I hope everybody the best in this situation.
 

bpmurr

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At least the issue is an easy fix. It seems like everyone just needs to go back to their dealer and get it swapped under warranty.
 

carbd86gt

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Hey guys i ran into that same problem with clutch pedal issue i actually took my car to my local dealer here in San Antonio and they are actually replacing the pedal clutch assembly for me they did not give me a hard time about it. My dealer called ford to see what it could possibly be and they told them that the spring in the pedal was to weak for the power it makes so they just shipped a new pedal clutch assembly kit that could handle the power and my car should be ready by tomorrow so yes they are replacing them from the dealer. I hope everybody the best in this situation.

The spring in the GT assembly is actually stronger, but it's the design that's flawed. We'll have a video up shortly explaining the issue with the assembly on the bench. Glad they are taking care of it for you, as they should.
 
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351inside

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Hey guys i ran into that same problem with clutch pedal issue i actually took my car to my local dealer here in San Antonio and they are actually replacing the pedal clutch assembly for me they did not give me a hard time about it. My dealer called ford to see what it could possibly be and they told them that the spring in the pedal was to weak for the power it makes so they just shipped a new pedal clutch assembly kit that could handle the power and my car should be ready by tomorrow so yes they are replacing them from the dealer. I hope everybody the best in this situation.


wonder if they will replace it with the one lethal is using(gt500) or just another gt one, in that case it would be no good...
Get back with us when they replace it and let us know if the issue is fixed

Hell if the dealership doesnt fix this, you guys could come up with a package or something, that will fix it(including the brake light) which you say is on all the time... Let us know how things go
 

19COBRA93

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Hey guys i ran into that same problem with clutch pedal issue i actually took my car to my local dealer here in San Antonio and they are actually replacing the pedal clutch assembly for me they did not give me a hard time about it. My dealer called ford to see what it could possibly be and they told them that the spring in the pedal was to weak for the power it makes so they just shipped a new pedal clutch assembly kit that could handle the power and my car should be ready by tomorrow so yes they are replacing them from the dealer. I hope everybody the best in this situation.

That doesn't really make any sense as HP has nothing to do with how the clutch engages or disengages. If Ford is replacing it for you though, then who cares why.
 

5.0 Stallion

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Well thats what the service guy at my local dealer said it might be the RPM how they say on the video from lethal but all i really care for is if they fix it. The dealer told me that they were going to be replacing it with a better one than the stock one its not going to be the same as i have right now i know that for sure im hoping everything goes good.
 

JDM74

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That spring helps to hold the pedal to the floor when at a stop light to reduce driver fatigue. That is why it is pushing the pedal to the firewall once it passes the vertical point. It is acting as a counter balance as well as the clutch return spring. It was designed to work that way. However I do believe that the it is a bad design since at high RPM the pressure plate seems to not have enough return force on the master cylinder to over come this spring.
 

carbd86gt

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wonder if they will replace it with the one lethal is using(gt500) or just another gt one, in that case it would be no good...
Get back with us when they replace it and let us know if the issue is fixed

Hell if the dealership doesnt fix this, you guys could come up with a package or something, that will fix it(including the brake light) which you say is on all the time... Let us know how things go

The switches are actually the same between the GT and the GT500. However, I replaced the switch and it fixed the problem. The other switch worked, but I guess the plunger on the original switch was just a hair too short because they were the same length to the naked eye.

That spring helps to hold the pedal to the floor when at a stop light to reduce driver fatigue. That is why it is pushing the pedal to the firewall once it passes the vertical point. It is acting as a counter balance as well as the clutch return spring. It was designed to work that way. However I do believe that the it is a bad design since at high RPM the pressure plate seems to not have enough return force on the master cylinder to over come this spring.

Exactly
 

JJ@WMS

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Thats great information for sure but replacing the pedal assembly wont fix a clutch that decides to self center itself. The mechanical issue with the clutch still needs to be remedied and I think once that happens there wont be a need for a different pedal assembly.

Also if you guys are getting quotes of $250 for the pedal assembly you need to find another dealer. I can get them all day long for about $140.

Thanks again for the info and video, thats good information for sure.

JJ
 

carbd86gt

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Thats great information for sure but replacing the pedal assembly wont fix a clutch that decides to self center itself. The mechanical issue with the clutch still needs to be remedied and I think once that happens there wont be a need for a different pedal assembly.

Also if you guys are getting quotes of $250 for the pedal assembly you need to find another dealer. I can get them all day long for about $140.

Thanks again for the info and video, thats good information for sure.

JJ

I have explained this on a few different boards already. You would be surprised how bad this pedal assembly is though, and it's a big problem for cars being used in track duty. The RXT clutch definitely helped, but since the effort needed to push the clutch down is much less, when releasing the clutch, the pedal almost feels like it's not bled properly when it's near the floor, and then it snaps up once it gets past that binding point. Unfortunately, we didn't to test this pedal assembly with the stock clutch, but I believe Lamotta is and they will be reporting back with their results. With the RXT, the pedals definitely fixed our problems and I would replace the assembly anyways because it's made for women. If a man needs assistance pushing one of THESE clutches down, then maybe he should buy a minivan or an Auto.

BTW, if a retail customer walks into Ford parts, they will be quoted about $200, that's why I said we could sell them for $150 because we get factory stuff near dealer cost as we are in tight with our local dealer. I wouldn't sell that stuff to a customer for $200, that's crazy.
 

royo

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Part number BR3Z-2455-E. List price is $175.75. Wholesale should be around $140. This is the GT500 pedal asy.
 

cobra mike

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Ford wants about $200 for the assembly, but we have a great Ford dealer we do high volume with so we can sell them for about $150. A 2011 GT500 brake light switch may be necessary also as our brake lights stay on all the time now, so I have a switch that will be here today to test out.



Those were my thoughts as well, lol.
cool first time it sticks its gone...lol..hopfully the brake light issue wont be a problem..im going to be getting some stuff in a few weeks, may just add that to the list
 

JJ@WMS

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I have explained this on a few different boards already. You would be surprised how bad this pedal assembly is though, and it's a big problem for cars being used in track duty. The RXT clutch definitely helped, but since the effort needed to push the clutch down is much less, when releasing the clutch, the pedal almost feels like it's not bled properly when it's near the floor, and then it snaps up once it gets past that binding point. Unfortunately, we didn't to test this pedal assembly with the stock clutch, but I believe Lamotta is and they will be reporting back with their results. With the RXT, the pedals definitely fixed our problems and I would replace the assembly anyways because it's made for women. If a man needs assistance pushing one of THESE clutches down, then maybe he should buy a minivan or an Auto.

BTW, if a retail customer walks into Ford parts, they will be quoted about $200, that's why I said we could sell them for $150 because we get factory stuff near dealer cost as we are in tight with our local dealer. I wouldn't sell that stuff to a customer for $200, that's crazy.

Yeah the $200 figure seemed high to me for sure. Ford is so funny about parts though and you should buy a ton of them if you can, once they find out they are selling a bunch of them they will raise the price like they did years ago with the clear tailights.. LOL

Again, good information for sure and lets hope Ford does something a bit more man style for the clutch pedal. As far as minivans go did you ever drive a stick turbo 4cyl caravan? Those things flew.. LOL :beer:

JJ
 

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