Installed a New South Bend 1947-OK-HD. Some info to pass along

[Motorhead]

My truck, 2007, 5.9, G-56. I put 70,000 miles on a South Bend CON-OFE. The CON-OFE performed well except it was hard to get a smooth start off. One VERY interesting and not so happy to see was that the wear on the CON-OFE of the disc and the wear into the flywheel caused the diaphragm fingers of the clutch to stick up far enough and against the throw out bearing, to make it so the clutch fork had NO FREE-PLAY. Before pulling the clutch, I removed the clutch slave cylinder to see what kind of access I would have to put a lubricator line in to lube the throw out bearing slider. That is when I found that the clutch release fork was all the way back against the inside of the bell housing. This is of concern because constant load against the crankshaft can prematurely wear the crankshaft thrust bearing.
THIS IS NOT SOUTH BEND ISSUE! The clutch was worn to its limit. I am stating this for others to gauge their clutch wear.
I called South Bend and asked how much free play they want AFTER the clutch and trans are installed and the reply was "1/2 to 3/4 inch free-play".
I bought one of the CAST IRON aftermarket throw out bearing sleeves that bolts over the input shaft of the transmission. I ended up NOT using it because the throw out bearing fork would end up hitting it sooner because it is thicker at the base where the three bolts go through it to bolt it to the transmission, thus giving the fork LESS free pay distance. If you DO want to use the cast iron TO bearing sleeve then you will probably have to remove the washer that is between the clutch arm PIVOT and the transmission case. My sleeve was not worn but it was dry when the trans was pulled. I came up with a lubricator line that I can now access the zirk fitting through the slave cylinder hole. I will only use one of the small, hand held mechanical grease guns and I bench tested how many squirts I need to JUST refresh the grease. TOO much and you run a danger of getting grease into the clutch friction material.
IMPRESSIONS of the South Bend 1947 OK-HD.....WONDERFUL!!! Butter Smooth take off now and It will handle the HP I am at.
Peter, at South Bend, has sourced an American made throw out bearing that is very HIGH quality. That is the one in my truck now.

 

[seafish]

Chris, that is NICE work.

While my SB-Con-OFE has worked well for 8 years or so, the throw out bearing has just begun making noise until I press the clutch in.
I would like to replace it with the newer, better quality bearing. I will call SB to find out about getting it.

That being said, I would like to install the grease collar that you sourced...can you provide part #'s, a list of materials/hardware needed to install and/or suppliers for any of the above??

Also, I am curious as to what sort of HP will the OK-HD hold??

 

[Motorhead]

seafish, How many miles do you now have on the con-ofe? I looked in my record book and I had exactly 70,000 miles on mine. I am real easy on clutches and the installer, a good friend of mine, said that the wear I saw on my clutch was normal life for an upper HP hold type clutch. I would HIGHLY recommend you take 5 minutes and pull your slave cylinder and check the free-play or lack of.
Also, the fingers on the pressure plate had plenty of wear as well as the face of the throw out bearing. The flywheel had about .020" -.025" wear grove in it. One thing I will say about the con-ofe is that the clutch always worked well, grabbed well and never deviated in feel.
The collar that holds the throw out bearing is the one that came with the throw out bearing. I drilled and tapped it to fit the small thread zirk fittings. I removed the ball and spring out of the zirk I put on the collar. I used some polyurethane fuel line that I bought some time ago from Parts unlimited. I bought a long stem zirk fitting, about 1 inch long, from my local NAPA store to attach to the greasable end. I tie wrapped it to the slave plunger side of the TO fork and I just pull the slave out, fish the zirk from the opening for the slave and grease it.

 

[AH64ID]

My dad has a O-HD and I much prefer it to my OFE.

Did you chat with Peter about greasing the input shaft and throw-out bearing like that? He's told me in the past that grease shouldn't be there, but I don't recall the full details.

 

[Motorhead]

John, We only put a slight film of grease, and I mean basically apply and then wipe off for the input shaft. Since 1971 when VW put a slider over the main shaft, I have lightly greased them. When I worked at UPS, the Ford chassis with the 300ci 6 cyl and NP435 four speeds, the throw out bearing would eventually bind up when it got dry. The mechanics drilled and tapped the collar and hung a short hose with a zirk fitting on it. They would lube them every so often and the mechanic didn't have to pull a trans just to re-lube the slider. I BENCH tested how much grease was needed to JUST refresh the lubrication on the slider. You wouldn't want someone unaware that would put 10 squirts of grease in there. That is probably why Peter says no grease.

 

[seafish]

seafish, How many miles do you now have on the con-ofe? ... I would HIGHLY recommend you take 5 minutes and pull your slave cylinder and check the free-play or lack of.
Also, the fingers on the pressure plate had plenty of wear as well as the face of the throw out bearing. The flywheel had about .020" -.025" wear grove in it.

I have about 50k on my Con-OFE. I will need to pull the transmission back to replace the throw bearing anyway, so I might as well inspect the flywheel and pressure plate. I also want to pull the slave cylinder/master cylinder in order to replace the fluid and bench bleed, so I can check for freeplay then.

Thanks for the info--

LAST question, how much HP is the O-HD clutch rated to hold ??

 

[Motorhead]

Per SB clutch web site, the clutch is good for 425 hp, 900 torque. That's enough for me.

 

[Northfork]

Good info, glad it has all worked out for you Chris.
I am hoping to get moving forward again on my truck, that Turbo Resource mod is high on my list, but we have had a rough spring early summer
We lost our "great nephew" to AML Leukemia on June 10th, after a 2 plus year battle.
He was 8-1/2 year old.
The same afternoon my daughter in law gave birth to a new grandson, so life has been a series of emotional roller coaster rides lately.
I did get my GDP fuel filter on and we did get to finally tow the 5'er for the first time, so far I am a happy guy, want to bring the EGT's down a bit but other than pulls life a dream.

 

[Motorhead]

Northfork, Sorry for your loss.... My oldest brother died end of last year and he was only 68. To lose a little one is even harder.

If you want to lower EGT's then the turbo mod will work for you real well. I am happy with the operation of the HD organic clutch other than idle in neutral gear noise is more than the con-ofe