Before I put in my Valair Clutch my stocker was slipping bad in 5th and 6th gear with my Adrenaline on Level 4+ anything over 3/4 throttle. Now If I turned the Adrenaline off it would never slip unless I made it slip. Remember the higher the gear the more stress your putting on the clutch. Ive only had this clutch in for less than 1 week and its the most fun ive had in this truck since I bought it. Get a clutch turn up the juice have fun and be safe.




Luke

 

Ok guys I lied about not having any more questions. Will the full ceramic clutch will suitibale for towing such as a couple of 4 wheelers and would it be alright to use to pull a fifth wheel such as a camper? Parents have talked about getting one but not shure if they are or not.


Andrew

 

IMHO the Full Ceramic Clutch is a little grabby to be a towing clutch. If you tow once in a while then you would be ok. But if you tow often then id get something like a Organic/Feramic or Ceramic/Kevlar.


Luke

 

Ok guys just couple more questions on this subject.
? 1- Duke, do you mean that the stock clutches can handle up to an extra 350 ft lbs before they start to fall apart.
No, they stock clutches will handle up to 350 HP( i made a typo)
? 2- Luke when you say drive smartly do you mean not over reaving and bogging it down in a certain gear? The reason I ask is b/c I asked a guy at Advance and he said as long as I didnt hit high rpms I should be alright. The highest rpm I hit is around 2500 rpm 3rd gear.
That guy is wrong, many people think that the cummins cant rev, the 24 valves are fine with reving, ive had mine up to 3200 several times and im pushing 250k miles on the motor. i like to shift about 2100-2500 depending on what situation im in. the big thing is not to bog it below 1500 in 5th gear(if you have a 5 spd esepcially) or 6th gear if its a 6 speed.
? 3- When upgrading the clutch should I upgrade to the 13'' conversion kit or just have the flywheel resurfaced and get the 12.25 clutch set?
Go with the 13, they are stronger and will hold better.
Ok hopefully this well be the last of my questions, but how can you tell if your clutch is slipping ? I dont think mine is slipping right now cause as the rpms go up the speed goes up, I just need to know what to be on the look out for.
Luke said it best, no need to repeat it
Again thanks for all the help.

answers are in bold

for the clutch type, get a Con OFE from southbend. itll be great for you

 

Duke, the 13 inch clutches actually dont have as much of a load as the 12.25 or the surface area of the 12.25. The 13s dont hold better than the 12.25s, since there is 22% more friction material on the 12.25 over the 13. Also the 3800 Lbs pressure plate on the smaller surface area compared to the 34/3600 pressure plate load rating on the larger 13 inch would imply that the 12.25 has more force per square inch. I personally would stay with a 12.25 of go to a dual disc. The best clutch to tow with in your case would be a Organci Feramic will be the smoothest and hold what you want to do. The ceramic will be too grabby and jumpy. you'll only end up hating the truck if you tow alot. I would get a ValAir OFE because of the price personally.

 

hmmm, thats way different then i was told by dan over at valair in january before getting my new clutch. he told me the 13s would hold more and not slip as easy. said something bout the flywheel strength too, oh well, yet another reason i stayed with southbend and went dual disc, also, if you get on to both southbends and valair sites. the prices are actually pretty similar. Give southbend a call there man, talk to Peter and ask him these questions and see what he says. Peter is the best and most knowledgable in my opinion. if one of his clutches wont do the job, he'll either build you one or tell you whos will and even give their phone number.

 

I don't know were your seeing prices but Valair has better prices.

 

Peter and Dan are EXTREMELY knowledgable about clutches. South Bend is generally $150 MORE when it comes to single disc clutches. You can visually see the differences in the 12.25 and the 13 inch clutches. We have beta tested some bad *** 12.25s and they have handled the abuse we give them. You can call Dan OR Peter or myself about these clutches. You'll get the same answers most of the time but the opinions will be different. I stick with the 12.25s because of the things i learned while building them, as well as the physics behind the clutches.

 

When using the valair do you have to have the flywheel bored out? On their website they have a picture , do you have to do this on the 24 valve to?

 

only if its a 12v flywheel, the 12v fw's were like 6 7/8 in.