Since I had the clutch replaced 1 1/2 years ago, I've babied this thing: when upshifting, I slip it out of gear to neutral and then depress the clutch to protect the assembly from high rpm's, and downshift only from 5th to 4th. Now that I'm 5,000 miles from home, it doesn't want to get it into gear again when at a stop! That was Saturday. Then yesterday fifth gear went out (again)! It was replaced 2 years ago, prior to the clutch replacement, with the "updated" MOPAR version. My questions: 1) Are there any upgrades available for the OEM pilot bearing? 2) Does it do any good to put a high dollar clutch assembly in when the pilot is prone to failure? 3) What are your recommendations on replacement clutches? I've got more time than dollars, so I'll probably have to rent a tranny jack and do this myself, if I can. Thanks for the help!

 

If your tranny is out I would look at the input shaft and the Pilot bearing. I was headed for a hydraulic fix for mine with the same issue. When I replaced the clutch (twice. The reason I had the clutch out in the first place was the pilot bearing) I new I should have went aftermarket but did not. It almost cost me an input shaft. The cage of the new bearing was tearing up the shaft.

South Bend sells a Kevlar. Quad 4x4 sells multiple sealed ball bearing. All require machining to fit. I went with BB because of the degraded input shaft. With that option it only sits in the inner race and does not turn. With a new shaft either option is as good as the other.

I reread your questions. There are a lot of opinions on clutches. I went with a luk. I had some shudder issues with it. They warrentied it and the distributor recommended an upgraded version. Their p/n was 05-092. The upgrade was 05-092HD. The disk was about 1/4" (6mm) bigger and was not series damened. When I asked about rating they only told me it whould hold 100# more and that it had 4250PSI clamping pressure compared to 3800PSI. It is holding my current mods with no issues.

Randy

 

Thanks for the info, Randy...you say you went with BB? What do you mean, and where could I get more info on this? And is "luk" a brand name? I don't race with this thing, but I do lots of steady pulling across the country.

 

BB = Ball Bearing. I got mine from http://quad4x4.com/ . Great people to deal with. I paid extra for shipping and had it in two or three days.

Luk is a brand name. The oem clutch is Luk. South bend modifies Luk components for their clutches.

As I said both bearing (kevlar & BB) will require some machine work to the fly-wheel. Less then $100. Just depends on the shop.

Randy

 

Thanks, Randy!