Have you blown up a South Bend yet?

[crawler]

Hey guys I'm kind of disabled at the moment. I was coming to a turn at about 30mph and I downshifted from 4th to 3rd and was dead in the water. As soon as I let out on the pedal all I got was a grinding noise and no go what so ever.

If i let the truck idle in neutral it has no odd noises.

Depress clutch I have normal pedal feel.

Release clutch normal pedal feel.

Depress clutch put truck in gear just like normal no forcing it. Release clutch and I have grinding and no go.

I can shift into 3rd,4th,and 5th without the clutch at a complete stand still with very little resistance. But of course as soon as I do I have grinding. There is no odd feeling in the shifter the pedal or anywhere for that matter.

It just doesn't go anywhere and it has that light grinding/slipping sound.



Update-This morning after everything sat overnight I messed with it a little more.

If I barely let out on the clutch in 1st the truck will roll forward(on flat surface) If I let out anymore than a few inches from the floorboard then there is instant grinding and no movement.

This makes me think that the input shaft isn't broken. But the shaft and the clutch hub could be stripped. The center may have broke out of the clutch. The springs in the center popped out. Etc...

Point is I don't know and I can't get it in my buddies shop until Wednesday. I was hoping to get an I dea on parts I might need so I could maybe have them here when I got the transmission pulled.

By the way I haven't towed anything with this truck since November and I don't drag race. I was told this clutch would hold. Maybe they should have suggested the 13" clutch instead.

Sorry to rant.

 

[TomGolden]

Here is my story.



Got South Bend Con 01 FE clutch installed in May 2001 truck had ~20K miles. At that time also had DD3's, EZ, and HX40.



To date since then: done about 20 passes down the drag strip, upgraded EZ to a drag Comp (race with Comp on 5x5, normal driving on 2x3). Truck now has 62K miles. No towing and very little hauling of any weight. Have dynoed the truck on 2 occasions.



absolutely NO slippage or any other problems with the clutch, transmission or anything else. Except my lift pump..... :-{}



Tom

 

[Doubleclutch]

Nothing wrong with a good rant... but why not talk to Peter first?

 

[crawler]

What I meant by sorry to rant wasn't that I was picking on Peter, I just meant sorry for the long post. I've called Peter but couldn't get through because they were closed. I'm not knoking the south bend it has been great. It never slipped or smelled or anything.

The post wasn't intended to stir anything up. I just wanted oppinions on what the possibillities were. NO FLAMES INTENDED towards Peter of South Bend, he is a great man who stands by his company and product. The title of the post was just for an attention grabber.

Again no flames intended.



Back to the subject.

I spoke at lenghth with a couple of South Bend installers yesterday and they thinks I probably ripped the center out of the clutch. They said over time even a lower horsepower truck like mine could pull the center out.



Thanks Guys,

Wes

 

[Doubleclutch]

Of all the bad things it could be, probably the clutch is the least bad. Good luck getting that puppy back on the raod... "lower horsepower machine... " Lower 400's ?

Greg

 

[crawler]

Doubleclutch

Like I said "Lower Horesepower Machine" .

 

[Morphious]

I've blown the center out of a Luk clutch, but in all fairness, it had somewhere around 90k miles of abuse on it. I knew it was going as it was starting to slip a little. It's the nature of the game, I'd rather spend the money on a clutch every once in a blue moon than have to plunk down 3500 bucks to get a decent auto.



Morph.

 

[Gizmo 007]

Originally posted by Morphious

plunk down 3500 bucks to get a decent auto.

Ouch... dude, that was just wrong :{

 

[Okie-Go]

So far I am pleased with my Southbend.

 

[South Bend Clutch]

crawler,



Sorry to have missed you when you called. Unfortunately you did break the center out of the clutch. Just give me a call and we'll see what we can do to get you on the road again. 1-800-988-4345



Just a little piece of advice... down shifting is very hard on a clutch and drive-train. Brakes are much cheaper to replace.





Peter

 

[John L]

Crawler-

I broke the center hub on my Con O clutch shortly after it was installed (less then 1000 miles?). I called Southbend and they replaced it without any hassle.



John

 

[RustyJC]

Originally posted by South Bend Clutch

Just a little piece of advice... down shifting is very hard on a clutch and drive-train. Brakes are much cheaper to replace.

Peter,



Well, that presents a dilemma. It's kinda hard to make effective use of an exhaust brake without downshifting.



Rusty

 

[Morphious]

So is shifting..... so I guess we should just keep the truck in first and never shift it... .



Morph.

 

[South Bend Clutch]

Exhaust brakes are cool but they are definitely hard on the drive-train, that is what it is using. I am certainly not saying that you can not down shift. There are aggressive ways to down shift and not aggressive ways to do it. Anyone who drives a manual knows what I am talking about.



Putting a reverse torque in the system is working your clutch disc in both directions. Take anything you like and work it one way over and over, now take the same piece and work it back and forth over and over. Which way is going to ware out the piece first?



Peter

 

[Hohn]

Originally posted by Morphious

... I'd rather spend the money on a clutch every once in a blue moon than have to plunk down 3500 bucks to get a decent auto.



Morph.

AHA!! THE REASON I BOUGHT THE 6-SPEED (among others)!!!

 

[Devildog]

Should of bought an Auto......

 

[South Bend Clutch]

Devildog,



What did it cost you as to not rip the torque converter apart?



peter



Oh! and you only get 91% of the power to the ground.

 

[krabman]

Peter, I was wondering how much clutch I could get in my truck without increasing stock peddle pressure, no chattering, grabbing etc? In other words acts stock but holds more power. I also wanted to ask how your hp ratings you show on your site are in regards to how well its going to work for me. What I mean by that is if you rate it at 450 would I be safe in going right up to that 450 mark or is that where it becomes marginal or is that where I can be sure I will be smelling some fried clutch? I tow a light load (7000) and had it in mind to run my hp right up to the max hp whatever clutch I get will reliably hold. Thanks.

 

[South Bend Clutch]

krabman,



Actually, we build all of our clutches with increased plate load without increasing pedal effort. It is actually reported by some that it feels lighter then stock. Now with all of our clutches and their ratings we try to rate the clutch 50 hp less then it's capability, primarily for the reason that you stated. We don't want you to buy a clutch at it's rating and push it's limits because it will not last very long. With the driveability issues, obviously the Con O (performance organic) is the smoothest of our clutches, OFE being next and the FE being the most grabby and chattery. If you're looking for 450 hp then the OFE would be the choice for you. The better you match the hp to the clutch rating, the better the clutch characteristics are.



Peter

 

[krabman]

Hymmm, my plan had been to get everything in the truck so it was ready for the power first. Im eyeballing gauges now then I had it in mind to do the clutch. Unfortunatly not having a money tree in the back yard that may be many moons. I guess I might have to rethink my upgrade path.