I'm looking to upgrade my clutch. I have a 600 and run a tst box usually on 2-2 or 3-3, generally not doing a lot of rodding around but a fair amount of heavy and long distance towing. My clutch is not slipping yet with 11,000 miles but I don't want to deal with it when on a trip.
We have ran South Bend stuff (3 OFE's) in our 2nd gen trucks and the clutches are strong but takeoff chatter has been really bad on two of them, and that is not acceptable for a daily driver. I talked to Peter and he claimed that the older OFE's had a bit of trouble in the chatter dept., but the newer clutches are much better. Looking at a lot of the signatures here on the board I don't see a lot of clutch info. Are the 600 clutches holding up better than the 555 clutches? How far can I run the tst before having towing problems? Who's running what and how can I avoid the dreaded chatter. I realize that any upgraded clutch is probably going to be a bit jumpy on takeoff but I don't want tires chirping everytime the pedal is let out.
Any way to cure a really grabby clutch? I've been told to spool er' up to 2500 and let go in 3rd or 4th gear a couple of times to deglaze, but I wanted some feedback on that before I try.

 

Wouldn' that trick CAUSE the clutch to glaze????

 

the OFE is fine for normal takeoff... I run 265/75's w/ a 3.54 gear, and I never use 1st gear unless I'm maneuvering in a parking lot or getting a trailer moving.

Forrest

 

My Con FE chatters pretty bad, but you get used to it and learn to drive through it. It's worse in reverse. Any metal-on-metal clutch is going to chatter. They are not designed to slip upon takeoff. If you don't want chatter I heard the Con OFE is much better. As long as you stick with a non-metallic disc it will be fine, and be sure to break it in correctly...

 

OFE is nice because it's organic on one side and metallic on the other... relatively smooth engagement with the holding power of sintered iron

Forrest

 

General feeling is that the ofe is going to be the smoothest and hold what I need.

 

My Con OFE isn't as smooth as the stock clutch was when maneuvering the trailer in 1st or reverse, but by bringing the engine speed up to about 1000-1100 RPM and slipping the clutch, it doesn't chatter. The OFE doesn't seem to mind being slipped for short periods when backing the 5th wheel - no funny smells or anything.

Rusty