Hey guys. I know I've been posting a lot lately but I'm about to put a lot of money into this truck and don't wanna miss anything important
I have a Luk clutch and SMF right now that is only about 3 years old and is working great. Does anybody have any experience with how much HP and torque these can take? I would rather keep it since its fairly new and save the money that it would take to upgrade it. I'm gonna have Rosewood 160/80s, T-500, s366 turbo, and interooler and e-fuel. I'm guessing it'll be in the 400hp range from what people are saying. Is that Luk going to hold or not?

Vince

 

It'll hold of you drive like a normal person but if you try to start banging on it it won't last to long.

 

Yeah with those mods you might as well look at getting a new clutch.

 

LuK Clutches are excellent for stock trucks. I have the exact mods you listed with Tony Wildman tunes, and I have a Kevlar/Ceramic that won't hold the power when I lay into it. With those mods, you may as well figure on a performance clutch. Which one depends on how you are going to use the truck.

 

It is my daily driver that I tow with occasionally. I don't really want to spend a fortune on a clutch though. They get expensive quick... do you have any recommendations?

 

I think my the problem with mine is that it got soaked with ATF when I first put it in. You should be fine with a Valair kevlar/ceramic for what you are doing with the truck. Yes clutches can get expensive, but if you are going spend the money on all the power mods, you may as well be able to use the power. If you have the HP, and can't put it to the ground, it would be kinda like putting gas in a wrecked car! LOL! It sucks I know, I'm looking at a $1700 dual disc ceramic on my next clutch go around. I plan on a bigger turbo someday though. You should be fine with the kevlar/ceramic.

Performance Clutch - Ford PowerStroke

 

very true. I'll probably just have to change it out so I don't have to worry about it. Thanks for the insight and the link!

 

No problem bud. One thing I can't stress enough about the kevlar/ceramic is follow the break in instructions to the tee! If you don't break that clutch in properly and heat it up too soon, it will never be right. I think that is also part of the problem with mine.......

 

I hope you don't plan on driving the truck on the street much, much less tow anything.
I had a dual disk ceramic because I once had big plans, too. Totally un-driveable on the street. No slip whatsoever, truck would hop and jump from a start even in low gear. Forget having a trailer behind it.
I ate that one and upgraded to a dual disk organic, way better street manners and will hold just about any power you will ever put to it. The surface area on the organic disks are unreal.

 

I’m running a Luk with a SMF as well. It’s been in the truck around 50,000 miles, and when I just redid the trans it looked great. I have not really romped on it hard towing, but I have been impressed with it to say the least yanking 14-17000lbs around the country last year. In a stock tune, I think it’s more than suitable. In a 80 hp tow tune it’s on the edge, and anything past that with a ton of weight behind you, just forget it, but I have no reason to tow at that power level either. So it has served its purpose very well. When empty I always use 2nd to start from a light. I always thought it would wear much faster doing that… surprised it made it this long.

I agree with Jim. In the future go with a dual organic. I’d run the Luk till she slips, that my plan at least, and then upgrade to a dual disk organic. Only takes a couple hours to do a clutch, might as well get your time out of the one you got in there now and save up for an expensive one.

 

I just bought their SMF conversion and I haven't stuck it in yet. My truck isn't modded at all, how did it hold up??

 

Was it the solid hub dual disc? I may be wrong, but I didn't think Valair offered the dual disc ceramic with sprung hub discs for the OBS trucks until recently. From what I was told, the sprung hub dual disc ceramic has a lot better street manners than the older solid hub. One of the guys from Valair said that it was really no more aggressive than the kevlar/ceramic. If this isn't true, then I will NOT be putting one in my truck, because my truck tows heavy 80% of the time.

 

I've changed clutches so many times in that truck I don't remember specifics. The dual disk ceramic was 3 years ago and very well could have been solid hub, in which case what you said makes sense.

However, I am curious why you'd choose the full ceramic over full organic?
The organic simply is a better all-around clutch in my opinion. The highest rated 'street' clutches we can get for the 6.0 and 6.4 are dual disk organics, and those trucks make nearly double the power the 'ole 7.3's do.

 

I guess I thought about the ceramic because I have had sooooo many clutch problems, not all necessarily the clutches fault, and I have had the trans in and out soooo many times, that when I do it this last time I wanted something in there that i knew for sure was gonna hold. I'm probably over thinking the whole thing and would be fine with the organic, but I would like to sled pull it at RRE and a couple local events a few times a year, and wasn't 100% sure how the organic would do with that.

 

just threw in a valair clutch rated to 400 hp and 900 tq. It is noticeably stiffer which makes me feel like its gripping harder. I'm still breaking it in though so I haven't pushed it. But it has a weird vibrating noise with the truck idling in neutral with the clutch engaged and goes away as soon as you push the pedal in. Flywheel is resurfaced, pilot and throwout bearing replaced. From reading online, it seems people say this is common and nothing to worry about. Is this true?