OK guys - new to the site and glad to be here.

I have the 5spd. and will be making significant engine upgrades soon. Looking for input on what clutch to use - Southbend CON FE or Luk? Also - will the 5spd hold up? Are there any upgrades to be done to the trans? Would a 6 spd be a better building block? THANKS

Eric

 

I just put a valair 600hp clutch in my truck and love it the clutch pedal feels like it did when it was stock but you can definatly feel it engage and dis engage. I have heard alot of people say bad things about valair but usually its people that have never used their product most the time the response I get when I ask why they dont like them is "its not southbend" or something along those lines. Their clutch's come with a warranty and for their price they really cant be beat.

Something else you need to look into is this http://dieseldawgs.com/product_info....oducts_id=1459

 

what do ya plan on doing with the truck??

what kinna power levels are you trying to achieve??

 

I'd like to be somewhere around 550...I don't know how attainable that is...
sticks, TST, Smarty, TT kit from Bell turbo. We'll see what happens.
Whitmore - How much of a difference did all of your suspension mods make? What exactly are the KW side impact rails? And how do you like your HTT manifold?

 

If you can get a hold of 6LCummins he can give you GREAT info on Valair clutches. I know he is running one as well as his brother and they have been pulling their trucks too.

 

well .....IMho if yer gonna do pulls with it then ya need to do double disc.....several manufactures make a good double disc clutch

if yer just lookin for a good all around truck to have fun with then a single disc clutch will work just fine for ya

I do alot of towing so I opted to go with the southbend CON OFE...............good for 500 hp I think.........I am very happy with the clutch as well as customer support I recieved during instalation .

the clutch market has come a long ways in the last decade and alot of good and dependable systems are out there .........make a thread in the request a price forum and alot of our site sponsers will shoot ya some quotes and what they recommend


also here is some good nv4500 reading for ya

https://www.dieselbombers.com/showth...ghlight=nv4500

 

At 550hp you will be testin the limits of the NV4500. You will definately need to upgrade the mainshaft in it if you haven't yet. The 6 speed is a much heavier tranny and will handle the HP but it has it's downsides also. Parts are hard to come by and the exchange is gonna run you about $3000 if you do the work yourself.

I love my Southbend and can't myself going to anything else in the future but I can't say anything bad about the others either cause this is the only one I have usedmyself.

Keep in mind that anything over 450hp or so you are gonna have to start upgrading many other parts here. A stock truck with some toys will do 400-450 pretty cheap and easy, over that and you need to be serious about what your doin.

 

At around 500-550 hp you should really start thinking of a dual disc in my opinion. I run a Southbend Fe and it is a grabby sob. I've beat the crap out of mine though and never slipped it. I'm waiting for Valairs dualdisc to come out and I'm going with it. I have to many coals in the fire right now though to look that far ahead. Southbend and Valair are the big players in the single disc feild you usually hear about. Dual Disc there are a ton out there if you really look around.

 

What kind of extra upgrades are we talking about?

 

When matchin a clutch to a truck you have to look at a few different things.

1.) What is the truck mainly going to be used for?
2.) How high HP/TQ are you wanting to go?


Those are the first questions i always ask. 6 speed wont make the clutch hold any better. just more expensive and harder to find parts for. In my opinion the only reason to have a 6 speed is if u have a trailer of 12K pounds or more on the truck 5 days a week. Other wise it is just a waste and more gears to shift. If you are looking at going to 550-600HP then i would say our Full feramic clutch is the way to go. It is dyno proven at 680HP before slipping in a 800HP Cummins. I would go with the Heavy Duty center section to help keep it together because that is usually the weak point of a clutch disc. The pressure plate rating on the HD is 3800 pounds and is what actually holds the power. Input shaft is a good thought on upgrading, and you will also wanna beef up your driveline.

Nick