ok, so i began today the daunting task of replacing my clutch with a valair ceramic/ceramic. everything suprisingly came apart really easily. took off the pressure plate, found not too much wrong with that, a little bit of slip apparent, but not too bad. friction plate came off, looked like organic/organic, not in terrible shape, but on its way out. finally, looked at the flywheel and said "hmmmmm...something looks wrong here". when i bought the truck, the original owner said he had replaced the dmf with an smf. when i saw the flywheel in place, i almost ***** a brick...........DMF! I was livid. luckily, and $277 dollars later, the local fleet pride had a 13" SMF for a ford that i went and bought their last one. its a LUK smf. basically want to go and find the original owners new f250 and put the dmf through his windshield, however i found out a new dmf is selling for $909?!?!?!?!?!. im thinking this thing is going on ebay to recoupe some losses from this install. wuddya guys think? truck will be going back together on thursday. other than the new smf, anything i need to put this in place or will it bolt right up????? please say no to the first and yes to the second.......

-Brandon

 

let me get this right...


you where under the impression the truck had a smfw correct?
you bought just a pp and disc to swap out the old?
take it apart so and find a dmfw.
so you went and bought a new flywheel also?

if so yeah it will work as long as its right for our trucks? doe sit have the pilot bearing/bushing pressed into it? make sure the bolts that hold the flywheel to crank are the right length and the bolts for the pp to flywheel are the right length. my clutch came with new hardware so i am not sure if the stock hardware would of worked or not and i think that is what your asking. good luck

 

The luk flywheel will work just fine with your new Val Air. As long as the flywheel is for your truck specificly. I don't see any problems. Just make sure the new pilot bearing fits the tranny input shaft, and make sure the clutch disk fits the new input shaft, and you should be good to go.

 

97, youve got my cards in order there. the luk is specifically for our trucks, made extra sure of that one. ill be putting it all back together tomorrow after school pending enough time and buttoning everything up thursday. new spring shackle hangers are going on tomorrow, too. i was really suprised with how easy everything came apart! i knew i had to hit a snag, otherwise i would have been done with it today and that just doesnt seem to be my style to complete a project in one day with no issues. thanks for the help guys, ill keep yas posted.

-Brandon

 

You might do the fork while your there. It's under $30.00 if I remember.

 

alrighty, so the new clutch is in. was not a bad install, to tell you the truth. wouldn't have been able to do it w/o the help of a friend with the tools/jacks/knowledge/misc. got done around 4 yesterday afternoon and took her for a test spin. there is a world of difference in this clutch and the last. definately just grabs, no slipping at all. its like learning to drive all over again! there is, however, one little hiccup. with the trans in neutral and the clutch pedal out, there is almost a grinding noise to be heard, coming from the tranny. now i originally put in ATF and it was LOUD, switched to hypoid 80/90 gear oil today and its alot quieter, any thoughts?? definately love the clutch, though. thanks for all your help, guys.

-Brandon

 

Any thoughts?????? Drain that crap out of your tranny immediately!!!!!!! These trannys were not designed to run on gear oil, PERIOD. The oil galleys are not big enough to flow the gear oil. If you leave it in there you WILL kill it. I'm only exclemating it because I don't want you to trash your tranny. Amsoil ATF, Royal Purple ATF, Mercon 5, etc. No gear oil. The single mass is gonna be a little louder, but it's okay, I promise. Don't wait for other responses, I'm correct on this one. Drain it, brother. No you probably haven't done damage, but if left, it will. Trust me, I chewed one up by doing the same thing. Live and learn.

 

royal purple synchromax gets my vote!!!!

 

k, ATF it will be tomorrow! truck has only run maybe 50mi w/ the gear oil. the stuff i drained out seemed to be very thick and definately not ATF. this is the first fluid change ive done in the 30k ive owned the truck. tranny seemed to have gotten really really warm with the atf in it. no additives to the atf, right?? thanks for saving my tranny RD!

 

No additives. Just synthetic ATF. Amsoil, or Royal Purple gets my vote. I've always run Amsoil, but I recently learned I have a RP dealer who is a good friend. I'm gonna try it myself. Also either is easier to find than the Mercon and probably cheaper.

 

Rubberduck, That's the first I've heard of that! I guess I'd better go change mine out. ATF in a manual tranny??? Hope mine's OK. Off to the parts store I go......... Thanks for the warning!!!

 

its easy to just pull the stick out and pour the 4 quarts in from the top. at least thats how i do it. watch out for the 2 plastic pieces.

 

I'm not sure when the last time zf-5 fluid has been changed. Could have been 100,000 miles ago or could be 207,560. Just got the truck at 180,000. Would changing it now cause more problems? Some say if it has a lot of miles on fluid to just not change it because you could run the risk of breaking some of the contaminant deposits loose. I have noticed it sometimes will grind a bit if cold between 1st and 2nd and some between 2nd and 3rd. Thinking about replacing the clutch and changing the fluid would be an easy enough job to do if it would help out. Any ideas?

 

Definatly change the fluid. This isn't an auto. And even if it was, I'd say change it. I'm sorry, but it's MY OPINION that the "don't change it cuz it's old" is crap. That's the life blood of your tranny. It would be like not taking your grandmother to dialisis (sp). If you are afraid of deposits, change it again after a few thousand miles. It's only 4 quarts. Even using synthetics it's not that expensive. I say change it immediately. But again, that's just my opinion.