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Thread: Wilwood clutch pedal failures / go-forward recommendation?

  1. #1
    Senior Member ram_g's Avatar
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    Wilwood clutch pedal failures / go-forward recommendation?

    How many failures are you aware of of the Wilwood clutch pedal / quadrant setup as supplied in the Roadster Complete Kit? (There were at least 2 reported on ffcars, perhaps more?)

    Given this history, what are your recommendations for Complete Kit builders?
    1) "Don't worry, be happy" - i.e. the failure rate is statistically insignificant and chances are good that you'll be fine with the setup as provided.
    2) Change to a hydraulic setup - as intended by Wilwood. Necessitates purchase of master and slave cylinders, appropriate bracketry at the transmission, and interconnecting tubing.
    3) Change to the new forged clutch pedal. (If this option is recommended, is the single clutch pedal available from you? How much?)

    Thanks for any insight!
    FFR Mk3.1 #6720. Carb'd 302. Fun.

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    Senior Member cobrajj's Avatar
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    I'd also like to know. My build is now finished and I think about the Wilwood clutch pedal everytime I drive. Jim

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    President, Factory Five Racing Dave Smith's Avatar
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    I'll get the guys to summarize these. I know Patti may have some data on this.
    Dave
    Dave Smith, FFR 001
    President
    Factory Five Racing

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    FFR Tech Support
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    As far as I know there have only been three Wilwood pedal failures total, and we have already switched to the forged pedals.

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    Senior Member ram_g's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Andy@FFR View Post
    As far as I know there have only been three Wilwood pedal failures total, and we have already switched to the forged pedals.
    Good to hear, but the question really is what your recommendation would be for owners who have already bought and are currently building or driving FFRs with the older cast pedals.

    In particular, if FFR is already supplying forged pedals with new kits, could you please address #3 of the list in my post - will these pedals be available for retrofit and how much will they cost?

    Thanks!
    FFR Mk3.1 #6720. Carb'd 302. Fun.

  6. #6
    President, Factory Five Racing Dave Smith's Avatar
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    Havent gotten the guys together on this yet. Wilwood has been contacted so we'll meet tomorrow to figure out the best course. These pedal are used (to my knowledge) in alot of applications, so I doubt our experience is simply annecdotal as we should know from them the severity of the breaks. More shortly.

    Dave
    Dave Smith, FFR 001
    President
    Factory Five Racing

  7. #7
    Senior Member ram_g's Avatar
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    Thank you Dave!

    Just want to make one point clear. I don't know about anyone else, but as for myself I don't in any way "blame" FFR for supplying the cast pedals originally, and I am willing to pay cash (depends on how much, of course!) for a more robust solution.

    I continue to be amazed and grateful that you guys do what you do in today's environment of blame and litigation...as far as I am concerned I am spending my time and my money on building my car in my garage and it is my risk as to how it all turns out...
    FFR Mk3.1 #6720. Carb'd 302. Fun.

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    Senior Member cobrajj's Avatar
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    Thanks and please keep me in the loop, when you figure out the options. Jim

  9. #9
    President, Factory Five Racing Dave Smith's Avatar
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    Got with the guys this morning to review data on Wilwood. We’ve shipped just over 1,500 Wilwood pedal boxes. Quite a while ago, we had three reports of failure and have been able to get 1 pedal back to us that we forwarded to Wilwood. 2 of the 3 were clutch pedals and 1 of the 3 was a brake pedal. Wilwood told us that they have had 0 reports of breakage on this part. Andy recalls the clutch pedal broke while go-carting (this was about a year ago). Jason reports that the other clutch pedal broke while the customer had the car in rolling chassis state.

    We changed to the new Wilwood pedal box for the sole reason of getting the adjustable pads. It might look funny, but that’s the way it went. One of the benefits of the adjustable pedals are that the arms are forged rather than cast. (In the Mk4, one of the goals was to maximize footbox space and so having adjustable pedal pads on the clutch and brake make it easier to accommodate different size feet because you can move the pedal pads sideways on the mount.)

    In either respect, Wilwood has made and shipped thousands and thousands of these parts. I’m attaching some pictures of the two pedal boxes and we’re only shipping the new ones now. From our perspective, the part that we got back and then forwarded to Wilwood looked like a casting flaw.

    There’s a couple of ways we can go on this. First thing is if you have a Wilwood pedal box, make sure it is installed correctly (they’ve got a nice warning notice insert in the package). Whether you’re building the car or whether it’s finished, push hard on the pedals and make sure they’re securely mounted.

    I have the cast Wilwood pedals in my own Mk4 (still haven’t gotten around to putting the adjustable ones in) and in my green Hot Rod that was on Horsepower TV. If anybody isn’t comfortable with the parts for any reason, I’m happy to send you a brand-new assembly at the cost of the part (I think our cost as a non-retail supplier is about $150). Call one of the tech guys here and we can ship one to you. At this time, I really don’t feel there is a problem, however, if there are any more reports, this is such a serious matter that I would feel obligated to initiate a recall.

    Dave Smith
    President


    Here is the first Wilwood pedal box. I think most of them are metallic grey, but I'm not sure.


    This shows the cast pedals with the non-adjustable pedal pads.


    Current pedal box assemblies stock in the warehouse.


    Current forged units. Note pedal pads are adjustable side to side.


    Current units are black.


    These are the current pedal pads and screws that allow side to side adjustment.


    I have the older version in my own car (when we built the Mk4, we had not gotten the new design with adjustable pedals in yet). I'm confident in the Wilwood product.

    Any other information you guys have is helpful.
    Dave Smith, FFR 001
    President
    Factory Five Racing

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