i'm just gonna jump right into it... the clutch has seen plenty of towing/highway miles before the truck was given to me and i've put plenty of miles on it as well. i have even seen it get smoked probably 2 times before i owned it. well, i can feel that truck doesn't seem to pull like it used to, even when it had stock injectors. i'm positive my pedal coordination hasn't changed nor have i gotten sloppy with it. i slowly release the clutch and ease into the throttle as i've always done and feel a good shudder from a dead stop starting in 2nd as always (unless when towing of course). i'm trying to decided between 2 clutches at the moment. ATS vs. Southbend... to specify, i'm looking at a southbend single disc con ofe (organic & feramic) kit which comes with a new flywheel, sealed roller pilot bearing, alignment tool, throw out bearing and all necessary hardware. i would imagine the ATS kit comes with the same amount of parts. they're both reputable companies. i've heard plenty more good than bad about southbend. haven't heard much about ATS but that's also why i'm asking. i've got connections through 2 friends. one can get me the southbend kit for $800 shipped to my door on the same day of purchase. the other owns a transmission shop that is also an ATS authorized dealer. the ATS organic & feramic single disc kit is only $735. one thing that i would like to have would be the warranty behind the part and install through my buddy at the transmission shop. where as if i get the southbend through my other friend and have the transmission shop install it, i'd be back and forth between the 2 of them trying to sort out any warranties should the clutch be defective for some reason. TIA for any advice or information you can provide.

P.S.: i heard somewhere that there were 2 types of NV5600's manufactured. a standard and a heavy duty. both have different sets of gear ratios. however, i've only come across a chart listing only one set of gear ratios. how can i tell whether i have the standard or heavy duty 5600 and what are the gear ratios of the HD 5600? thanks again!!

 

The HD 5600 has a bigger input.

99-00 2nd gen truks got the 5600 with the small input, 01-02 got the 5600 with the bigger input, behind the HO engine.

YOu need to know which you have...and I'd get a southbend, i didn't even know ATS made clutches. Just order it off their site?

 

ATS sells our clutches. Hope that helps

Peter

 

Everyone I know uses Southbend

 

Kenny's.

 

they buy yours and paint them purple? lol or do you mean they can order one from you guys?

 

good to know! thanks brandon. i know the input of the '99-'00 is 1 1/4" and the input of the '01-'02 is 1 3/8". i'm really positive it's an '02 model. now that the rain has quit here for a couple of days, i can crawl under the truck and look for an ID tag and hopefully find a mfg date on it.

 

thanks for the replies so far everyone. i've never read anything bad about southbend. and from all the reading i've done in the past, southbend was the first thing that came to mind when i thought of clutches. i've looked into kenny's and they're competitively priced. i haven't heard anything good or bad about those, however.

 

Actually they sell and stock our clutches. The ones in the pictures on their advertising are painted purple for that reason, advertising.

 

Kenny's clutches are all my brother will run in his 1200+ horsepower pulling truck (Ragged Out.) Kenny does very good work, and I believe he has a good warranty on clutches as well. When my brothers stock clutch goes out in his '97, one of Kenny's clutches will be going in.

 

so all i'd need to give them is the part number or description of the kit then, right? how do you feel, performance wise, their clutch kit i described compares to yours?

 

If you order a clutch from ATS it will be a South Bend Clutch

Peter

 

wow, that's interesting to find out! learn something new everyday. so in other words, southbend makes the ATS clutches? and would the important parts of the kit be southbend parts such as the flywheel with the sealed roller pilot bearing, alignment tool, throwout bearing??

sorry for all the questions but i just wanna be sure i'm getting what i want.

 

I don't know how else I can say this...ATS does not build manual clutches. They buy our clutches in our box and sell them as such. They, ATS took one of our clutches out of our box and painted it purple for their advertizing. If you call them and ask them whos clutch they sell, they will tell you...SBC.

Peter