How to remove the pedal assembly

"The car is basically built around the swing pedal assembly...
Not covered in the service manual because this falls under category of "when you drive an old and durable car, you wear out strange stuff!".- Dan Stern (Slant Six Dan)


It was a minor mystery to me until I looked at it, thunk about it a whole bunch and asked some of my FABO buddies how to do it! I searched for the topic in the forums but couldn't find it, so here goes:

Remove the four 1/2" nuts on the front pedal assembly studs that protrude through the firewall, the front reinforcing plate and the master cylinder. Carefully pull the master cylinder forward off its studs and support it with a bungee. Don't put too much strain on the brake lines that are attached to the master.

Remove the instrument cluster. Remove the steering column (If you don't know how to remove the instrument cluster or steering column, consult a service manual.)

Working through the hole where the instrument cluster was, remove the two 9/16" nuts from the rear studs on the pedal assembly, which attach the rear of the assembly to the two 90-degree dash brackets.

Lift the carpet under the pedal assembly and remove the four 1/2" bolts below the master cylinder that go from inside the vehicle, through the firewall and thread into the steel reinforcing plate. Then pull the reinforcing plate forward and off of the pedal assembly's front mounting studs.

Now the fun part. From below, drill out the spot welds attaching the rear 90-degree brackets to the bottom of the dash and remove the brackets.

Now you can swing the rear of the pedal assembly up enough to disengage its front mounting studs from the firewall. Then the pedal assembly can be lowered and removed from the vehicle.

When reassembling, attach the rear 90-degree mounting brackets to the dash with 10-32 x 1/2" bolts and nuts.

So easy even a child can do it (as long as the kid is ASE certified)!

Does anybody else know how to do it easier, without having to remove the dashboard? If so, please feel free to correct me.

I don't think it would be very practical to remove the dashboard because you would first need to remove the windshield, and that could get expensive.

I took the whole pedal assembly out of a ~73 Dart w/ automatic a few years ago, in the junkyard. I didn't have to cut any spot welds. The dashboard and windshield were in, but the instrument cluster was probably out. As I recall, it is held by just two side bolts on the cluster end, and the 4 bolts to the MC on the firewall. I took both pedal assemblies out of my 64 & 65 A's, and recall the same approach. I did so just to clean and paint them, and for better access to other parts. I should check if the 64 & 73 are identical, since both are currently out. Not sure why SSD thought the whole car was built around it.

Thanks for your input, Bill! Sorry I assumed that all A-body cars were the same. Maybe what I said applies only to the '60-'62 models.

You see, SlantSixDan and I both own '62 models (the early series cars). On our cars, there are four mounting studs pointing forward out of the front of the pedal assembly, and two rear mounting studs pointing backward. The rear ones go through the dash brackets. Let's say that each stud is about 1-1/2" long. That means that you need at least that much clearance at one end of the pedal assembly in order to get either the front or the rear studs out of their holes. But in our cars there is about zero clearance. When all its fasteners are removed you can wiggle the pedal assembly a little bit, but that's it.

Obviously, when the car was built the front of the pedal assembly was inserted through the firewall and then the dashboard was bolted into place behind it. In order to remove the dashboard you need to remove the windshield because there are a bunch of Phillips head screws under the windshield molding that attach the dashboard to the body, and it's impossible to get a screwdriver in there without removing the windshield. So SlantSixDan is right in saying our cars were built around the pedal assembly. On the early series cars, W.P. Chrysler must not have thought the brake pedal assembly would ever need repair.

Apparently from what you say, Ma Mopar must have changed the method of attaching the pedal assembly sometime later. I wonder when?

I do not remember cutting anything out to remove pedals from the 62's I had. It has been more than a day since those cars were on my property. I can't imagine cutting out spot welds to remove--- I'll see if
i can get a look at the spare pedal i have laying around to see-- i also have a 66 still at the house can check it out , Lawrence

I've removed and installed the brake pedal assembly out of my '68 Dart a couple times. Didn't even remove the gauge cluster, just the steering column. It's just 4 bolts and fiddling it out. The only main issue was a cross bar that's used to support the dash, but with some wiggling and a lot of pressure, the pedal assembly was able to squeeze in.

MuuMuu101 said:

fiddling.

Click to expand...

THIS right here, LOL

"I do not remember cutting anything out to remove pedals from the 62's I had." -VDart

I'm not saying it is necessary to cut anything. However, unless I'm mistaken, it is necessary to drill out some spot welds on a '62.

I take it that the pedal assembly's mounting studs are pressed in and not easily removable, aren't they?

VDart, on your '62, do you remember if you had to remove the dashboard before the pedal assembly could be removed?

Also, on your '66, do the rear mounting studs on the pedal assembly point sideways or backward?

Thanks again.

I figured I owed everyone an update on this.

I removed the paint from the underside of one of the rear brackets and looked for the spot welds, but couldn't really see them, so I didn't know where to drill them out. So much for that idea.

A friend of mine, who's a professional mechanic and owns several A bodies, kindly came over and was able to remove the pedal assembly. Let's hear it for A-body buddies!

He's had lots of experience with '63-and-up A-bodies, but had never worked on an early series Valiant or Lancer before. He said the dash and brake pedal setup on my '62 was quite a bit different from a '63.

He really had to struggle with it in order to get it out, and he is younger and stronger than I am. He bent the rear brackets back until the studs would clear. It would have been a little easier if I'd removed the m/c pushrod first.

There is no way I could ever get that thing back in by myself, so my friend agreed to come back over and re-install it for me. I think this is the most difficult job I've ever done on my Toad, and it would have gone into "mission creep" if my friend hadn't helped me out. I'll bet you he is on FABO, but I forgot to ask him. I'll find out if he has a user name, and if so I will officially thank him fer sure!

My friend Carl is FABO member Lee Robinson's son. Thank you so much, Carl and Lee!

Interesting that 62's brake assemblies were much different. Being a new model, they probably hadn't worked out all the maintenance issues.

As promised, comparison of the pedal assembly in my 64 Valiant (painted) and one from a 73 (74?) junkyard A-body. Both are automatic tranny. It appears they might interchange since the distance from firewall to front mounting bolts is the same 11.75", and the overall shapes are very similar. I understand that even later brackets lost the firewall studs and have nuts there. The later bracket has more holes, and a much longer pedal switch adjustment slot. It also has a small bracket to the top of the dash. The top depression is probably for the cable to the dash (cluster much different). The pedals are also much different, probably because the later steering column is much bigger, w/ the wire-mesh collapsible tube.

My guess is that the later assembly would fit an early-A, but vice-versa would require some cutting and mashing. A later pedal might fit the early A-bracket, but would swing on the left side of the steering column. You would also need the later brake switch. Someday, we might have to be so creative. For now, get the correct assembly for your car. What is scary is how rusted all 3 brackets were (my 64 & 65 A's and junkyard A). These are CA cars. I would be worried about a rust-weakened bracket in other regions. It seems the factory didn't spray any paint on these.

Thanks, Bill. Here's a picture of the '62 automatic pedal assembly.