As some of you might remember my clutch has been going away. After nursing it for the past few weeks I got home to day and dont have to go back to work until a week from Monday. On top of that this is what greets me when I arrived. 

 

Sure am happy to have this and the truck gets parked tomorrow for install. There were a couple things that surprised me with the clutch. First the throw out bearing, googled the part # and it came up a bearing made in China. It would appear that it is a common bearing and apparently SKF and Timken both sell the same bearing also. No markings on the bearing what so ever. The other is the makings on the organic facing of the disk. It is marked with Valeo and some numbers. Thought that was little odd on a SB clutch. Googled it and came up blank.

Any way it's mine now and is going in as of tomorrow. 

thats probably where they source their clutch material from then they assemble the whole unit.

I notice there is small differences between our two clutches.

The hub sure is sprung a lot differently. Here a better pic of the same side as yours. I hope this one is the new and improved model,

Another thing was where the instructions tell me to be sure and install the clutch facing the right way, "your clutch will be marked" and there is not a mark on it. It is however apparent to me that the side we are looking at goes to the PP. I dont think there is enough room in the flywheel for it.

The whole center of the clutch is different.

Edited November 23, 20159 yr by dripley

Did you guys buy the same clutch? Those things don't even look close. 

Mike has always called his by  CON OFE and the one I have is listed as 1947 OFE. Every reference I found on the CON lead me to the 1947. The picture of the 1947 on the SB site is of the clutch in Mikes photo. Might have to reach out to them and be sure. The facings are as described but the hub is a lot different.

The OFE has had at least one redesign in the last 5-7 years so that could be the change. 

Hopefully your clutch is a 2nd revision and you don't get hard stopped shifting common to OFE's, which is my only complaint.

My my next clutch will not be an OFE, but rather the OHD as it's a much quieter clutch than the OFE and has nearly all of the same holding power. 

I am pretty sure mine looks like yours Dave. It was installed in the spring of 2011 and was a semi-recent redesign. The previous model would warp easily under minor slippage associated with trailer backing and 4wd use on back roads. The warpage cause the clutch to not fully disengage. 

OFE is the primary part number. I have seen the same clutch referenced with Con and 1947. 

Edited November 23, 20159 yr by AH64ID

That is good to know John. I thought that could be the case. Seems that most things i look at on the interweb that has a photo also has the caveat "picture might be different than item received". Mike's pic is several years old and a difference is not surprising

I also looked and asked about the HD but got talked out of it. Of course every one was trying to sell me a DD. Just did not think I needed to go with one and it seemed everyone here that had one was getting good service and life out of the OFE. So thats whats going tomorrow. 

I would be interested in how the HD works out if you go that route. It interested me.

Well I hate to say this, but i am going to have someone else install the clutch for me. Sitting here last night as a cold started coming on and trying to digest the lack of help it appears I was going to have. This morning I am just feeling less and less capable of doing it. I had the flywheel in my lap last night looking to see if there was a part# on it. Blew my mind how heavy it was and I could see my sick arse under the truck and wrestling that thing in place. Not to mention it is cold outside, not as cold as a lot of you fellas see, but cold enough for me.

i know the folks putting in, been in business here at home as long as I can remember. Works on the wife's vehicles when I am not home. I almost got him talked into letting me help. I would feel better if they did but not sure he is going to let me. Sure would be nice doing it in a warm shop on lift. But he is taking it in tomorrow and hopes he can get it ready by tomorrow afternoon. Pretty good service beings I just walked in a 10 am today.

If your on the west coast I would of been more than happy to install that beast for you. I know you poor clutch would never make the journey here. I've done plenty of clutch jobs. For the better to let a shop just do it for you. Sit back and enjoy your free time. Then when you feel you broke the disc in enough... I know the Edge Comp is getting turned up.

 

Edited November 23, 20159 yr by Mopar1973Man

The trigger finger is itching. Looks like I will have plenty of time to break it before I have to move the 5th wheel. I do have to drive back to Alabama for 2 weeks until the new store opens. Sure wish interstate miles counted on the break in. Hopefully he will be able to get it done tomorrow. Then I will have some time to chase some smaller stuff I have been needing to look at.  Boost leaks is one of them. I really would like to button those up before pulling the trigger on the comp.

And by the way if I had been anywhere near you I already would have been there. I do appreciate the offer.

Absolutely! After seeing the boost leak thread with the other member and his chasing slow leakers. Now he's getting better boost pressure. I might consider do some inspection work myself on my truck again.

I towed with mine within the first 200 miles, with permission from SBC who said towing was actually a good way to beak it in. 

Even still my clutch took almost 1000 miles to break in to the point where less than 2000 rpms was useable above 3rd gear. 

26 minutes ago, AH64ID said:

I towed with mine within the first 200 miles, with permission from SBC who said towing was actually a good way to beak it in. 

Even still my clutch took almost 1000 miles to break in to the point where less than 2000 rpms was useable above 3rd gear. 

Curious as to what you mean by less than 2000 rpm. Not sure what to expect on the first drive.

Mine was a little grabby at first, but then really smoothed out after about 1000 mi or so.  

11 hours ago, dripley said:

Curious as to what you mean by less than 2000 rpm. Not sure what to expect on the first drive.

The dampening springs in the clutch plate are VERY stiff and take a lot of use to soften them up. The truck vibrated so freakin bad below 2000 rpms in 4-6, especially with a trailer, that it was literally unusable. SBC said it was normal, despite my thoughts that I bought the wrong clutch. After about 1000 miles and a few WOT romps with the trailer attached the clutch broke in. It still won't let you lug like a stock clutch or the OHD will but it's not bad. 

 

They can get grabby depending on your use but a few 3rd gear starts with some slippage will get rid of that. 

31 minutes ago, AH64ID said:

They can get grabby depending on your use but a few 3rd gear starts with some slippage will get rid of that.

Wouldn't that create a nasty hot spot doing things like that?

1 hour ago, Mopar1973Man said:

Wouldn't that create a nasty hot spot doing things like that?

Only if you take 1/4 mile to engage the clutch. What SBC and other recommend is simple 3rd gear start, which doesn't create hot spots but can smooth a grabby clutch. 

When I had the Valair installed it was so jerky and grabby I could barely drive it. The one thing that calmed it down was slipping the clutch while getting up on the ramps here at the house. Driving helped but not as much as that did that day. It was still a little jerky and grabby thru its short life.

 

But onto bigger and better things. I just picked the truck up from shop. When I first got in and pushed the clutch pedal down I was shocked. It was effortless. Half the effort I was used to with the Valair. I fired it up and let the clutch out and bam it grabbed. It engaged a lot lower pedal than I was used to. That was to be expected so I pulled out on the highway a little more prepared and though it still engaged quickly I was more ready for it. The engagement was a lot smoother than I expected. Much smoother than the Valair ever was. Moving down the highway I did notice the tranny was a little slower to shift than previously and really had to be sure i was putting the pedal to floor for it to shift easier. I will attribute part this due to removing about 1/4" of the slave rod back when my throw out was going out. Going to drive it around some more, see how it shifts and decide whether to swap in the new slave that I have. All in all I am very impressed so far for the whole 18 miles I have driven it so far.

I stopped by the mechanics shop this morning to get something out of my truck and see how they were coming along. While I was back there I got to talk to the fella doing the work. He was having a problem. I had went to the dealer and bought a new pivot for the clutch fork just in case. Forgot to tell them it was there, but he saw and seeing some wear on the old decided to put it in. Well as luck would have it, it snapped off in the bell housing. That cost him some time and me some $$$$. All in all I dont think he treated me bad though. I went there on Monday morning at 10am asking him to install it and me being able to pick by Wednesday. he had some work there in front of and he still got done. $443 for the clutch install, fixing broke off pivot, a new rear main seal and some misc bolts. I provided all the other parts. $48 of that was for fixing the the pivot bolt. I think that would have been the last bolt I would have thought would have broke.

Onto the the old clutch. I will have to let the pics speak for them selves.

pressure plate side

fly wheel side

While the pressure plate is cover in hot spots the flywheel is covered with heat cracks. It is the oe flywheel.

On 11/24/2015, 9:26:00, AH64ID said:

The dampening springs in the clutch plate are VERY stiff and take a lot of use to soften them up. The truck vibrated so freakin bad below 2000 rpms in 4-6, especially with a trailer, that it was literally unusable. SBC said it was normal, despite my thoughts that I bought the wrong clutch. After about 1000 miles and a few WOT romps with the trailer attached the clutch broke in. It still won't let you lug like a stock clutch or the OHD will but it's not bad. 

 

They can get grabby depending on your use but a few 3rd gear starts with some slippage will get rid of that. 

I did one 3rd gear launch by mistake and it was a little chattery on that. merged into traffic once in 4th at about 1400 rpm with no noise from the tranny. That was unusual. I usually hear some gear rollover doing that. While the clutch does grab quickly I was still able to finesse it somewhat with out it grabbing hard. So far i am thrilled s**tless.

OH, Mikey, this one for you. I did do one 3X3 run with the comp in fourth and that was a lot of fun. Looking forward Keeping on real soon.

Edited November 25, 20159 yr by dripley

1 hour ago, dripley said:

, this one for you. I did do one 3X3 run with the comp in fourth and that was a lot of fun.

Went out a did a little 20 mile run and did some low rpm pulls at light throttle. 4th and 5th from around 1300 rpm with no vibration or roll over noise. I do hear something more like a very low moan until it gets to near 1650 rpm. With the Valair I always had roll over noise in 4th at low rpm and little,very little briefly in 5th.

If this thing gets better with break in, it will be like the stocker. It is not far from it now. The one thing thing I hope does not change is the firmness of engagement. Feels like the Hulk got hold of it when fully engaged.