Has anyone replaced their clutch using a South Bend clutch kit? I need to replace my clutch and flywheel. There are so many choices out there and they vary greatly in price. I was told that South Bend made a great clutch. Which clutches have you had the best experience with?

 

Are You Replacing The Flywheel Also?

I just had installed a conversion to single mass. I bought from Valair if I remember my parts cost around $600.

I am on the fence about it right now. I have engine trouble so haven't been able to break it in properly. It is VERY noisy...sounds like the gears are slapping eachother around at idle. Driving around when I hit low/no load the noise returns. With my DMF I could "lug" it down to like 35mph in 4th and she would just idle there, keep on moving, never complain, and I could accelerate from there just fine. With the SMF there's no way I can do that...have to keep a load on the gear box.

On the plus side my left leg muscles never cramp anymore.

I can give you the part numbers if you would like

good luck

 

South Bend has a good reputation........ however the gear rollover noise in the trans and other problems Gumbolover explained are not the fault of South Bend... That happens whom ever you get the kit from......

The DMFW is by far the better choice for OEM performance and less noise. Ebay sometimes has them......

 

I know there has been some early failures with the dmfw and they are expensive,but there are some that get over 200,000 miles with them.
Now at the same time I have seen people have go thru a regular clutch in 20,000 miles too.
when my clutch gives up I plan on putting a ZF in and I think I will go with the dual mass instead of having the gear rollover noise. at least try one of them the price has come way down since they first came out.

 

What are the part numbers for the South bend clutch for ZF5?

 

The PO told me that he had changed the fly wheel to a SM but I'm beginning to wonder if I really did or not. It drives fine except for under a heavy load in first and reverse or after it has been driven for an hour or two then it begins to chatter in first and reverse. I took a trip to Vermont this summer and got stuck in traffic in NY and I thought it was going to tear the transmission right off the engine, the whole drive line would start to jump so bad I'd have to stop the truck, if I popped the clutch it would minimize the chatter but that is hard to do in stop and go traffic jams. I talked to a reputable Ford dealer and they told me that they thought the flywheel was warped and when it got hot the warp would get worse causing the severe chatter. Short jaunts around town the truck drives just fine, you'd never know there is a problem.

 

jhoffman, have you tried things like switching to a 30wt synthetic atf and even adding some extra fluid?

it is possible the PO did a hack job and something is right also.

I just bought a 12.25 valeo smf kit and have a kevlar pilot bearing to put in so hopefully ill have it in next weekend if i get it by then and i can let you know how it goes.

 

I haven't tried heaver oil. What is that suppose to do? I have heard others talking about adding heaver oil and over filling but what does it do? Where do I get 30 wt. atf?

 

its supposed to dampen the gear vibration, i also wonder if someone put in the clutch for a DMF with a SMF so you have no springs to take the shock

look for 30wt atf at a big truck shop or something like that, if not get it online. its a little thicker then regular atf which is 20wt and will help out with the vibration.

 

Just dug out the maintenance records for the old truck, the clutch, pressure plate,throw out bearing was changed and the DMF was changed to a SM. The syncros in the transmission as well as 2nd gear, input and output shaft bearings and all seals were changed. This was done in June of 2003 at 105,000 miles. In May of 2006 the clutch master cylinder and slave cylinder was changed and the fluid was changed. The last time it was serviced was in Sept. 2006, the transmission fluid was changed again with Royal Purple 75-140. I'm not familar with Royal Purple and I don't know what the 75-140 stands for. It sounds like the weight of the oil but that would be more like gear oil not atf. Maybe the fluid is the whole problem.

 

change the oil in the trans its no the right stuff, these things dont run on gear oil, use full synthetic ATF.

 

I am beginning to wonder if the PO was having problems, thus the reason for the frequent fluid change and then in the end tried the heavy gear oil. I had a 1989 F-150 that I changed transmissions in about 10 years ago and I put gear oil in it and it shifted awful till I found out it needed AFT I changed the fluid and it worked great. Looks like I'll be changing fluid. I'm glad I got out the maintenance records and discovered it had gear oil in it. Do you think I need to flush it out or just drain it and fill it with the proper fluid. How much do I over fill it?

 

it holds just under 4qts, i would put the right stuff in it and then see how the noise is and then maybe overfill it. i would look for 30wt atf though, some people run a 30wt motor oil and are happy with it too. most people that do over fill it seem to put in 2 gallons. i think you over fill it from the top where the shifter goes in.

flushing it out might not be a bad idea, maybe just buy some cheapo atf and run it a few days or something.

 

This will be awesome if changing the oil fixes my chatter. I don't have the time or money to change the clutch and flywheel right now. This gear oil is probably why it is hard to shift into 1st and 2nd when its real cold out.

 

Hopefully the fluid change fixes your problem. For future reference though, my friend had a 93 IDI, put in a SMF and a South Bend clutch and loved it. I guess his DMF was going out and making alot of noise so in the end his truck was actually quieter.