Here I am

Are all Southbend clutch's worked over Luk's

Attention: TDR Forum Junkies
To the point: Click this link and check out the Front Page News story(ies) where we are tracking the introduction of the 2025 Ram HD trucks.

Thanks, TDR Staff

DTT billet stuff

JVD torque enhancer????

I'm in the same boat as Agades and Froadin. I'll need a clutch that holds 400 horse but can still operate smoothly. I personally don't care if I need a hydraulic ram to push the pedal in but I can't have a jumpy clutch. You can bet I'll be making some calls and asking some questions before I make my descision.



-Scott
 
Craig, Thanks for the spelling lesson.



Now here is a lesson for you. Some of us don't like being reffered to as cheerleaders or cultmembers. It's insulting and tends to put people on the defensive. I took offense because of how you reffered to me a SBC user not what you said about SBC.



I may have missed this but I have to ask, do you still have your shifting problem.



Regards,

Scott
 
Al tho no one will probably believe it but I don't have a shifting problem anymore. It seams that I remember some where on the TDR that Peter him self posted that they had found the problem for hard shifting to be a "tight" pilot bearing(seal?) making the input shaft drag. This could be the cause of this hole mess. ?



Craig
 
So, If you think it was the pilot bearing the question is:



What pilot bearing did you use (make model, type, stock, etc)?



What pilot bearing are you using now.



If the same type, what do you think the difference is/was?



Dan



oh yea - don't be so negative - why wouldn't we believe that you don't have the problem anymore??
 
The SHORT answer on the pilot bearing is NO, if it was dragging enough to affect the rorating mass of the transmission and shifting, it wouldn't have lasted very long, and you would have quickly known what the problem was... ...
 
Ok, enough drama on an obvious situation that is positively "NOT THE NORM". I've installed several of their clutches, and run an FE on my 03, and it has worked well for over 25K miles now. Feels the same as when new, and handles the power just fine. I've logged several thousand towing miles(typical load 14K), and no issues at all.



I've had one customer that had a Con OFE, and felt it was too much for their needs, and Peter sent a Con O as a replacement, and the customer was very happy with the 2nd clutch.



"Picking the right clutch for your intended needs" speaks volumes, and Peter will go above and beyond to help the customer to make the right choice.



That's why I use and sell their clutches. Not just one opinion, but many.
 
Last edited:
I also had the fe. Was a bit to grabby for me and posted about it. Peter e-mailed me and asked me to call. I did . Told him what it was doing , what I was doing, and where the clutch had been. He recomended a clutch, sent it the next day, I had it installed, it worked and that was 40K miles back. And I tow 15K lbs on a regular basis. Wouldn't let me pay for the second clutch and that was that.



Do I have a *****? I don't think so.



. . Preston. .
 
Last edited:
Im going to throw my . 02 in.



I had my first OFE fail at 5K. I called Peter and he sent me a new clutch. He asked me if it was driveable or if he needed to overnight it. If it was driveable he would send it ground. (Cheaper for him... and understandable) He asked the norm... if I had it done for me, what I had been doing, etc etc etc. I got the new one and shipped it back to him. (He said call him when I was ready to ship it to him and hed cover that too, but I felt it was the least I could do)



OK first clutch out of the way... ... now the second one.



I am set up with a D-comp and dd2's with a stock turbo. I figure 400-410HP. I went to Piers dyno day and ran at 439. 4 with the ghost TQ line at 1110 peak at 1750. (Ive heard MANY arguments at this number and the accuracy of Piers torque measurements, according to a second dyno... they werent 'that' far off)



At the time it was a toss-up if I could slip the clutch when loaded. I knew from the first one that if I didn't 'put heat to it' it would be OK... . just drive it respectably for a while and it would be OK. I told Peter of what my problems were and he looked at the ghost TQ line and said "Wholy COW this thing isn't meant to take this much torque. (I wasn't sold the clutch on TQ mind you... I was told 450 HP)

I said "Yup"

He says "Looks like you need to climb the ladder"



(Mind you I had about 7-8K on THIS clutch)



I thought it was kinda odd. But OK clutch number two burns up..... and I am putting too much TQ to an OFE. I get it. Still hurts the pocket book but I get it.



There were a couple remarks about Piers slipping a fresh DD... ... I said that it was slipping. Peter said "Its my DD... It can't be slipping" Piers confirmed my statement. Confidence is one thing. Cocky is another. I may be young, but I know what a clutch sounds like when its slipping. Granted, Piers was launching in 3rd (or trying too) and it was a fresh install that hadn't had time to seat in properly. I have no qualms about the holding capacity of the DD clutch.



I give Peter a month or so and call him again about my truck. We went in depth of what I could be doing to up my TQ numbers so much. I had a couple of things done out of the ordinary and he said get him some numbers so he could know if it was duplicable. I said OK (still no word of maybe cutting me a break on a FE or a DD) I got my numbers. I am putting 425HP and 1050TQ peak of 1750rpms on TQ. Cool. I call him back and leave a message and have tried three seperate times to get a reply. I have not e-mailed him. I wanted to talk in person.



That is where I stand at the moment.



Peter is good to deal with. He dealt me right the first time around and IMHO was great about the way he did things. This second go round has left a definate bitter taste in my mouth. I am not looking for a 'free' clutch. When I upgrade to a different clutch I will most likely be going with a competitors DD clutch.



As for my clutch now... . I put on a PDR40/16 and my clutch slippage has disappeared. (I did slip it once grossing 17,400 and 'racing' a truck up a hill) I feel this is due to the lag not letting my TQ peak until 2100 rpms. I am right on the HP line if I say the PDR40 and the superchips stack gave me 25hp. It feels SOTP like it did. I have yet to get it on the dyno.



You wanted honest opinions, you got it.

IMHO the 'gamble' to use a competitors clutch and get good results is the same as going with SBC. But for less $$$. Anyone can get a bad product sometime. Be it SBC or LUK or McCleoud. I TRIED TO BY-PASS THE CUSSING FILTER happens.



No hard feelings I hope

Mark
 
just my 25 cents



I have been around high Hp for many many years and seen many strange things with clutches because of it... I started in Drags and then went into Super Modifieds, then Sprinters and ended in Open Competition rear engine 1 mile tracked cars that resemble and are 1 or 2 year old Indy cars reconfigured to be roundy round cars. so I have some expierence to base my opinion from and not being just some smart ass.



IMHO folks who do things to their trucks are responsible for any decision made of what clutch they install. . try to get any Mfg. to even look at you after you smoke a clutch good luck, any that do are very good to deal with and want your continued business.



Peter has gone way above anything he should to help out people who make decisions that don't work out. . usually they don't "like" the feel or buy a smaller clutch than needed to save a couple $$ from the higher HP/Torque load clutches... No Clutch Mfg. will do what Peter has done for the CTD guys... I believe he has been the number 1 guy in customer loyality because of it and deserves to be so.



you guys are building very high torque load and very high HP rigs and think that Peter ownes your project and should be your white knight in shining armour to fix YOUR problems. . hell take ownership of YOUR problem and quit thinking that he has failed you. . again NO MANUFACTURER WILL STAND BEHIND YOU AS PETER HAS, no there isn't always a fix that will be free to you for your decisions as your clutch choices, buy the biggest baddest clutch out there and build away, and no one size doesn't fit all applications so quit thinking it does and blaming Peter for your poor choice... you can't have a street friendly trailer puller clutch and expect it to be a puller clutch that is not Peters fault , you can't have a very high HP drag or puller clutch and expect it to have street manners again that is not Peters fault... you can't expect a 450/500 HP truck to act or drive as a stocker so quit expecting it and demanding Peter to be your "boy". . and you can't expect Peter to be incharge of the fitment in your rig as there are too many tolerance issues in high HP applications, the installers in most cases have no high HP/Torque expierence an do not know that you have to check out run out or bell housing alingment. . that isn't Peters fault either so again stop blaming him for your project. . Peter is far too nice of a guy to leave you high and dry and always trys his best to help you out, however he has been abused by many and then gets crap about his lack of resolve in YOUR PROJECT.



JMHO and no disrespect intended to any poster, feel free to tell me to go F myself but I'm sure others who see the facts as they really are will agree with me.
 
Mark,



I know this is probably a sorry excuse, but, understand how many people I deal with daily and, unfortunately, I don't have total recall. I try to keep good notes and return all calls that I have missed. About your clutch, you stated that the 2nd one burned up but it appears to still be in your truck and working without slipping so I don't think that it actually burned up as stated. Now as to horse power numbers and clutch capabilities, all of my clutches are rated with hp and torque numbers. For some reason your truck was producing a higher torque number then the standard equation that goes along with hp numbers. The OFE is only rated to 1000 ft. lbs. of torque and you're exceeding 1100 which is over my FE. Now that the turbo has changed, the torque band must have come down, thus the clutch not slipping.



It's kind of funny, I get quite a few phone calls of all types of various situations and I need to listen and weigh and try to learn what each and every performance product actually produces so I can better suit the clutch to the needs. Now, some torques come on at different RPMs whereas others come on at other RPMs. Now I'm not saying this is what you did, but I have had people call me and say that if they try really hard at a particular level they can actually break my clutch away for a second and could I please send them another to see if we can not have this happen. Now correct me if I'm wrong, if you try really hard to make something happen most likely you will succeed. Should I instantly send out another clutch?



Now with the comment about Piers's clutch slipping I chose to use Piers to test our clutches because of his knowledge in the field and knowing how powerful his truck is. As a matter of fact, Piers has installed approx. 5 clutches. This is what is enabling us to find a limit and rate the clutch. I believe his truck is in the mid to upper 700 hp so if my first designed slipped, I certainly didn't mean to sound cocky or arrogant but more that I was surprised that it did. It did however put me back to the work bench to make it even stronger. Some of his issues for taking the clutch back out would also be due to shifting situations. Now understand that Piers is a drag racer at heart so we are trying different things and working with very little tolerances to create a speed shifting double disc clutch, which has not been done yet. So yes, it will take some work to get that just right. Unfortunately I do not have a truck sitting in my shop to play, so I have to use the field to do my work. As we sell clutches for all makes and models of vehicles I could no way own one of every vehicle that is made. We have the original dd clutch that piers was using at 3100 lb. plate load. We are now using pp that offers 3600, 3850, & 4200 lbs. With the 3100 it appeared to have broken away at approx. 600 hp so we are rating it for 550. Now you can kind of take the calculations as to plate load and figure it on up.



To answer some of the questions above as to when and where to use DD clutches. I am still not a fan of sticking a DD in every situation. I strongly believe it will have a deteriorating effect on the transmission and drive train because there are no longer any dampening springs to absorb the diesel spiking. If one is not needed I don't believe it should be used. When is it needed? Obviously when the hp and torque power exceed the power of the single disc or if you intend to put yourself into extreme conditions such as sled pulling, continuous drag racing or grossly overloading. Now we have worked very hard to make our DD as smooth as possible. If I had to compare the drive ability of the DD to one of my single disc I would say it is very similar, if not a little better, then the FE. You may ask why not put the 4200 lb. in all applications to ensure no slippage, well that is because, with the higher the plate load the harder the pedal effort and the more the strain on the vehicle.



Now Mark, if you do choose the competitors clutch I completely understand. Will I give you one to offset? No I will not. Will I work with you price wise? Of course I will. But it sounds like your clutch is holding just fine and doing what you wanted it to do. Correct me if I'm wrong.



Peter
 
Last edited:
As always Peter raises the bar for everyone else to meet for class, tact and good craftmanship. We should end this thread at that. all this is proving is how comitted Peter is to making the best procucts for our low and high hp dodge trucks. . Peter dont get a bitter taste in your mouth b/c there are few people out there who dont appreciate your that you dont have to go the extra mile. most of us TDR crowd appreciate you. there is no cult here just people who appreciate someone who cares. i have never even bought a clutch form peter.



i am going to go on and say THIS POST IS OVER PEOPLE... THE END!... ... .
 
Peter,



Thanks for getting back to me (finally???) I told you the second one was slipping, and I could do so at will. Big difference from burned up. I also stated I never put the heat to it and I drove very conservative and maybe slipped it a dozen times. Never really slipping it to the point of making it stink (read, glazed over crispy friction material) I have been totally honest on what I had been doing with the clutch, and I was also told by you that peak TQ @ 1750 is the hardest thing in the world to ask a clutch to do.



The first clutch wouldn't even hold the comp on 1x3 and DD2's. I can accept that I got a bad one and feel there is nothing you could have done about it except what you did. Stood behind your product and made it right.



This current one is doing fine, you are correct that it is working, but I would bet a whole paycheck that if I went with a fast spooling hybrid like the dodgezilla I would be back at square one. Now that my peak TQ is different I have to really be screwing up to make it slip and the slipping clutch is going to be my least problem playing at those HP levels at that weight.



It never crossed my mind for you to replace the second clutch at no cost to me... . again, I am not out for a free clutch. Your clutch didn't hold my TQ numbers. My HP numbers were under your rating the TQ were waaaay over. OK No problem. Yes I can see my truck is unique (flier maybe) and this is a one in a thousand situation. No, I didn't (and dont) expect you to give me a clutch at your cost. I dont work like that and I think you wouldn't be in the situation your in if you gave everyone a new clutch that had a problem. Again, just because I am young doesn't mean I dont know how business works. A little cooperation and one of three returned phone calls would prolly have alleviated all my problems.



Thanks for the offer of working with me on price. Still shows you are a stand up guy, and makes me wonder if the phone situation was a fluke.



Take care

Mark
 
SEE

Mark, I told you just give him (Peter) a chance. I'm gonna stop here cause I've had way to much to drink and I'll probably make a a. . out of myself but I'll be back tomorrow, sober just wanted to say I TOLD U SO. Jeff
 
Back
Top