The $2200 Clutch Job From Hell AKA Avoid South Bend Clutch!

['956Wheel]

Rob,



I find it VERY chicken I TRIED TO BY-PASS THE CUSSING FILTER to slander a man as you have on this site of knowledgable people.



You got Phucked at Schucks then went on to other clutch "geniuses" to get an uneducated opinion on whether or not the clutch was defective, after a "backwards installation", then you attempt to burn a good mans reputation... ... you ought to apologize on the site just like you slandered on the site!



You have so many doubtful statements on your post I can not believe a word you say and feel that your halfa$$ attempt to slam the maker of the clutch is made invalid by your own idiotic words!



Mike

 

[rubberneck]

love my south bend love my south bend

Have i said that i love my south bend clutch?? Oh well here goes my south bend kicks buttt The only problem i have with th mu 2001confe is smoke. Tire smoke that is. Every time i dump the clutch, i end up picking rubber chunks off of the rocker panels. dd3's EZ box and 1 or 2 burn outs (ok lots of burn outs) and this sucker never hints at slipping. (stock clutch only lasted 600 miles by the way) Chatter... not that bad, i've driven much worse feramics than this. Tow with it, beat on it, cruise it around town, it likes it all. Heck my wife doesn't even have any problems driving it. Peter keep up the good work, i'll be calling ya shortly, my father in laws 5sp clutch is on it's way out. I want to hear more about this con ofe i read about.

 

[Sled Puller]

Peter,

Maybe now that you see the pictures you could help Rob go after the installer?



Also, Peter, maybe you could get a letter to post from the guy who bought the discounted clutch?





Gene

 

[R.ebel]

Clutch

After looking at the flywheel pictures and then the pressure-plate pictures, I'm led to believe that the shop neglected to surface the flywheel. The flywheel appears to have a lot more wear and heat checks than the pressure-plate. The dry input shaft splines are clearly visible as well. JMO



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[South Bend Clutch]

As I promised my secretary put my last email from Rob on the link below:



<a href="http://www.southbendclutch.com/robg.gif" target="_blank">robg's E-mail</a>







MGM, I will try and locate the gentleman that installed Rob's clutch, I think that would be a good idea. I saw the pictures the day the clutch was taken out and expressed my concerns to Rob but he insisted to me that the garage felt as though they had done nothing wrong. The only thing that I could do at that point was to get the clutch in my hands to see if there was something wrong that I could not see in the pictures. I tried to get Rob to stand up to the garage but he would not do that. Now he is standing up to me even after my offer of helping him with the labor. To help him any further would be Nobel but not in my future. Maybe he can get some of the other vendors that he has trashed to help him out.



Peter

 

[Sky]

I think you guys should try to get this worked out off-line. I have over 9000 customers and I know that your not going to please everyone of them, its just not possible. So I use to bend backwards for years and do anything they wanted to make them happy, well not anymore. I now either offer a quick fair solution or there money back! "Your satisfaction is guarenteed, OR your money back" If I have a customer that is not going to be happy ever then I just tell them to send the products back and I will send there money back no questions asked and be done with them forever! Its not worth the hassle. Im not saying your like this Rob, im just saying maby you should send the product back and part your ways. You will be out on the labor, but you can get your money back if your not happy with the product (I think?? Right Peter?)



Anyway good luck to you both. Rob I hope you dont quit being a TDR member. Im trying to put my self in Robs shoes, and me not being all that mechanicly inclined I wouldnt know what to do either if my mechanic told me one thing and SBC is telling me another it would be a difficult situation, I hope never to be in.



Mike

 

[jjohnson1177]

Wow, what a thread! Rob you could have have your clutch installed here, and done right for about $200. 00. I think I would attempt to take the rip off artist that installed your clutch to small claims court but since you agreed to it before hand you most likely wouldn't have a leg to stand on. I can say from experiance that it takes a big man to back up his product when he is not installing it. Peters offer to you on the labor was more then fair. Believe it or not I'm sorry you're selling your truck, maybe if you would have hung around some of these guys you might have learned a few good lessons in life and grown up a little not to mention some basic mechainic skills which I'm not sure you were exposed to previously. Good luck with your new Ford or Chevy or whatever you replace your poor ol' Dodge with. By the way will you be advertising some of those "second rate" parts in the classifieds when you remove them?

 

[Sled Puller]

Sky,

Good PoinT!!!



Hey Joe Donnelly!



Send a grand for me to South Bend, I'll eat the install price,and I'll try one of theirs!!!!



LMAO!!!





Vendors NEVER return money from what I have seen!!



Gene

 

[DAWG-1]

Whats for Sale?

So what second rate parts do you have for Sale? Possibly a turbo ???

Hey Sky,

I am thinking about a turbo (twins)... I can only expect another great improvement . Yes, I do have a second mortgage on the truck .



Hey Peter,

I have one of your clutches coming through Piers (eh) next week. Could you e-mail me specific install directions so I do not make the same mistake as this guys shop did. e-mail me at -- email address removed -- . Thanks Sam.

 

['956Wheel]

This thread is a story of the "blame game". I read the e-mail and find it sad that Rob has a self induced financial nightmare and decides to blame all but the faulty party! He must be young, not a fault but you must take time out to use logic rather than emotion.



Well Rob, if you see this post, try to remember that it was your choice of which shop to use, and you stated that upon picking up the truck you did not like the way the clutch felt. Your "mechanic" told you a big lie, big enough to send you on your way and ruin a good clutch.



And by the way if I did use a mechanic (NOT) and he tried to separate me with that much cash I would RUN not walk the other direction! Are you rich or just inexperienced?



Mike

 

[MikeR]

You want something to hold up to twice the power over stock? Then yes,you will loose some ease and comfort in things. Face it,companies are using race car technology to build parts to hold the power we are making here,and I sure don't remember race cars driving like Cadillacs.



BOMBing is a money gamble... if you wanna play,you gotta pay! I am always leary of a non-mechanically inclined person wanting the same power level that a seasoned wrencher has(unless you can easily afford to pay for labor again and again). What is a non-mech going to do when he breaks something? We are taking the power levels of these rigs higher than they were ever designed for,and with it,we should know very well we are responsible for our own actions and choices.



My wife drives my truck with it's older version SBC which is grabbier and chattier than the newer versions,and she does just fine with it.



-Mike

 

[Hammer]

After reading the email that was sent to SBC one would only have to wonder if he(Rob) really ever wanted to own a Dodge in the first place,,What I can not figure out is this,does he really think things are different on the dark side (brand-x diesels)???,, I'd have to say Peter has more than gone out of his way to help and any further assistance would be like shooting himself in the foot,,After learning a valuable lesson myself in forum slashing,I'll add this then depart,,I agree that the way it was handled by Rob,via his post here,was in very poor taste and by trying to hurt SBC's reputation is not very ethical,,I'd think there is a better way to handle it and he did not partake in it,,Somehow I do not think he will be missed... .....

 

[HeberRam]

Bad Install!

Rob G----I've have installed two clutches from south bend with no problems. It looks from the pictures the imput shaft and splines are bare as a bone. The white stuff is it lithium grease? If you don't have the knowledge to install a clutch you should take to a place you can physcially watch and learn. At least you will observe any unnecessary hamering or install problems. I'm with Peter from South Bend, take the information posted here and take back to the shop you had installed. They should make some kind of adjustment. $650 is way to much to pay for a new or replacement clutch install. most good shops should be able to do in approx. 2hrs. and usually charge for 4hrs. At $60/hr X 4 = $240. Even in Bay area, say at $100/hr that would be $400. The point I'm making is I think you got ripped-off both in labor price and install.

 

[DAWG-1]

Originally posted by MikeR

You want something to hold up to twice the power over stock? Then yes,you will loose some ease and comfort in things. Face it,companies are using race car technology to build parts to hold the power we are making here,and I sure don't remember race cars driving like Cadillacs.



BOMBing is a money gamble... if you wanna play,you gotta pay! I am always leary of a non-mechanically inclined person wanting the same power level that a seasoned wrencher has(unless you can easily afford to pay for labor again and again). What is a non-mech going to do when he breaks something? We are taking the power levels of these rigs higher than they were ever designed for,and with it,we should know very well we are responsible for our own actions and choices.



My wife drives my truck with it's older version SBC which is grabbier and chattier than the newer versions,and she does just fine with it.



-Mike

Mike, well said.

I was out driving my truck today and with all the mods that I have done and some redone. If I had to pay for all this I would be broke long ago.

I dont believe everything in the aftermarket world is perfect. Even the stock world has many variables to deal with. My '95 was in the shop for all kinds of things, built Sept. '94 ( 1st yr). I am glad I kept it for 6yrs. Now my '01 is 100% improvement.

Obviously Rob should never have touched his truck or paid someone else to, that type of attitude WILL NOT be missed on the forums.

 

['956Wheel]

Guys, Check Rob's sig. , is the truck really "bombed". He has too much money and the "mechanic" saw him coming!



Lets be real here, when you bring a heap in they figure you ain't got bucks... . then you bring a 40K machine in... ... ... you figure!



"Oh yeah buddy we done lots of Cummins clutchs"!



I just hope Rob learned from this mistake. If you got x-tra bucks send them to charity!

 

[bighammer]

Pretty Unfortunate Situation

Sorry to hear of your troubles, Rob. Must feel frustrating to have so much go wrong for you. Being a web developer (in profile)dealing with computers all the time must not help either. I sincerely hope you can find something to make you happy.





Thoughts

(6/29) The new clutch is in and it works great!



The above quote is a copy/paste from your website. Which clutch would that be exactly?





I hope venting here has helped you as much as it did me. I'm so impressed with Peter and South Bend Clutch, I ordered one!

 

[Don M]

I read that too when this thread first developed and was saving it for later. I assumed Rob would return in defense.



I checked out all of Rob's toys and read some of the commentary he has to say about each one and heard the same complaints I am hearing about SB.



Check this out.











robs site



My Camoro, My Corvette, My mountain bike, My trailer, My camper,

My, My, My... ... . gimme a break!





Read the commentary on some of his stuff. It will ring a bell.



Don~

 

[David_VT]

Can't resist leaving a note on this one..

I decided to get the JD clutch after input from several other TDR members. Peter really had not got his product out there yet so it was not really in the running when I made the decision.



First, I did have a run in with Peter when I posted my satisfaction with the JD clutch. However, he quickly posted a message to me retracting his thoughts and I left it under the 'must have been a bad day' category. Later I had a conversation with some of the San Jose ram runners who supported Peter's efforts and understood the little misunderstanding we had. People I respect out there hold a high respect for Peter and that is good enough for me.



Reading Peter's feedback above, I think he and I are more alike that I had earlier thought. Bravo Peter for pushing back but staying to the facts for the most part. You got bruised by this unhappy customer and needed to say your part since so many purchasing decisions are made based on what is read on the TDR. Sure it would be nice to see the bashing stay behind the scenes, but once one party brings it to the public, the internet has a way of turning emotions to facts when there is no reply.



Second, As to a 'bomb'd' clutch (or anything add on for that matter), you really have to do your homework and truly understand what you are getting into when you make these purchases. You MUST understand the part(s) and you must have a bulletproof plan for the installation. One simply can't toss money at something and expect perfect results. The design in these products might not be anywhere near your expectations.



For me, I learned the product lesson with my brass JD clutch. IT IS A FINE PRODUCT but it does not act like an OEM clutch. I have finally learned how to run with it and I now call it my velcro clutch. I doubt it will ever fail, but I am not sure my ujoints will fair as well...



For me, I learned the installation lesson with the clutch also. I had a local (rural vermont) shop do the installation. I had all kinds of odd sensations with the new clutch that was finally tracked down to loose bolts on the ujoints and some kind of missing vibration dampner between the transmission support and the transmission. I will be honest and say that I kept thinking Joe had screwed me over... The only thing that kept me from blasting off a similiar posting to Rob's was all the time I spent researching the posts for any signs of others having problems with Joe. I simply could not find any facts to support it and thus looked at the installer and his work with a fine toothed comb... .



Sure, I know I am a computer guy and I know that I am not a truck mechanic. I know when I buy something I want it to be perfect (for me!). Now I know that 'perfect' is really just a relative thing.



Thank you TDR and the members for helping me learn the sometimes painful lesson of study study study test test test communicate communicate communicate before I punch in the credit card number (which is often the all too easy part).



Sorry for the long post, Rob I know you had problems and hope it all works out in the end.

 

[tntway]

see what ya mean...

last part of the datsun 210 write-up says it all, "but at least it wasn't my fault. "

see what you mean about my,my,my,my...

 

[Rcpilotlv]

Thought I would make a reply here. I know everbody likes to bomb trucks,cars, bikes, quads and so fourth. But there is a cost for doing so. You give up RELIABILITY. We dont have sponsors like factory racers or riders. Everything we buy costs MONEY. This is truly a very exspensive hobby. Also ask yourself why? Sure your quarter mile times maybe quicker, you may go up a hill faster, you may even look cool. BUT AT WHAT COST? So the next time you think you want bigger injectors, a fueling box, torque convertor, valve body, clutch and any other goodies, Remember nothing is FREE. Your going to pay for it one way or another. Believe me I have found out the hardway. I hope everything works out here on this thread I just hate to see this... .



RC...