Like many people, I'm not thrilled with the throttle response of the Jeep. I'm used to a sensitive throttle with a light return spring force on my motorcycle, so the Jeep feels like it requires excessive force and motion to get any response.
One common solution is a SprintBooster, which increases the sensitivity of the throttle by reducing the physical range of motion that the pedal must travel through to get to 100% throttle. You get more throttle with less foot movement. The Diablosport Trinity and InTune tuners also have a "throttle boost" feature that does the same thing as the SprintBooster. I have mine maxed out to +20%, meaning that at 10% physical travel, the computer sees 12% throttle position. At 50% physical travel, the computer sees 60% throttle position, etc.
This helped, the throttle return spring still feels excessively strong to me. I've noticed that sometimes my Jeep feels sluggish because I go to press the throttle with a certain amount of force that I expect to get the response I need, but the pedal barely moves. The pedal feels like it's always fighting to prevent me from accelerating more. I've read some discussion/instructions on removing one of the two throttle return springs, but I haven't seen a detailed walk-through yet. So here's pictures of what I did...
This is on a 2013 Wrangler. These instructions should work for all 2012+ Wranglers. I haven't looked at a pre-2012 throttle pedal, so I don't know if it's the same. If the throttle pedal is the same, then all the pedal modding instructions are the same, but you're on your own for accessing the throttle pedal in 2007-2010 Wranglers (different interior).
First, move the tilt steering all the way up and move the driver seat back to give you room to work.
Remove the panel under the steering wheel. It just pulls out.
Remove 2 bolts to get the metal plate out of the way.
I have a base-model Wrangler. If you have more electrical options, you may have some additional wire harnesses in the way here that need to be disconnected/moved. Now you should have a clear view of and access to the throttle pedal assembly. I found it easiest to access the pedal assembly by kneeling on the ground outside of the driver-side door.
Disconnect the electrical connector on top of the throttle pedal assembly.
These two nuts hold the throttle pedal assembly in place (and you can see where the electrical connector was plugged into the pedal assembly just to the right of the top nut).
I used a 1/4" drive ratchet with a deep well socket (10mm, IIRC) and was able to reach both nuts with it. It's tight near the top nut, but it worked. Other people have reported using extensions and universal joints to attack the top nut from an angle. The bottom nut is easy.
The fun part is removing the cover off the throttle pedal assembly. It's snapped into place with a million plastic latches. Be careful. The plastic is brittle. Only flex it as little as necessary to unlatch the latches. I cracked mine in one place, but it's still plenty solid.
There's 2 springs, one nested inside the other. Pry them out, but be careful not to lose any of the small plastic parts that may fly out at the same time. Once the springs are removed, the pedal will easily slide off the pivot point and out of the housing. If that happens, then the white plastic pieces will fall out too. All of this can be easily avoided by just keeping the entire pedal assembly on a flat surface with your hand over/guiding the spring as you pry it out.
Pull the inner spring out of the outer spring.
The smaller inner spring has a foam strip used to keep it from rubbing against the outer spring (probably to avoid metal-on-metal noise). Keep the spring and foam strip in a safe place in case you want to return to stock.
Put the larger outer spring back in.
Snap the cover back on. Double check all the plastic latches. I had to press pretty hard to get them all latched.
Reverse the pedal assembly removal instructions. Don't forget to plug the wiring connector back in
Drive for a day or two and see how you like it. For me, it initially felt way too soft and touchy. I got used to it quickly, but I still didn't really like it. I needed something in between.
So I went to a hardware store and found a spring that was similar to the smaller spring, but softer.
Stock big spring on the left, softer small spring next to it, and stock small spring on the right. The spring I got was from a manufacturer called "Hillman", size 1-9/16" x 1/2" x .054 (the last number must be the spring constant; bigger = stiffer).
Now, with the softer smaller spring installed, the throttle pedal feels "just right" to me.
If you replace either of the stock springs, make sure the replacement spring doesn't prematurely fully compress and bind up, preventing full travel of the throttle pedal.
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