ridofpwrstroke

Confused about the clutches. I had a southbend on my 02 5600 and it was rated for 550 hp. Easy enough. The clutch was grabby, but it worked. Now I want to upgrade the clutch on this truck but I dont want the super grabby feeling as I tow quite heavy.

I think I have a dual disk and I was looking and Valair has a dual disk up to 500 hp. Anyone have this clutch? Is it grabby when towing?

I guess I dont understand why people are paying 2400 bucks for a clutch. What am I missing? These clutches are 1100 bucks. Also, a dealer up here told me I can get the clutch from southbend for my truck for 1000 bucks. I think it is rated for 450 hp. Will I need other items?

I want the best of both worlds or the best compromise. I want something that wont be grabby, and something that will handle a smarty on 9 and this is heavy towing. Should I go dual disk or another route. HELP!

carl48

your 07 has a dual mass flywheel that will fail before 75,000 miles and must be replaced. southbend makes the best kit. ic comes with a solid flywheel with a real pilot bearing, a conofe disk, pressure plate and new hydraulics. the g56 transmits engine noise and the dmf was good at reducing it. the new sb will be a little noisy but that is normal. the g56 front bearing lacks a little cooling. when you go back in with the transmission add one quart over full through the gear shifter before you put the boot on. and the sb is about $1,000

wap

You can get the non sfi 3250 for cheap these days and thats what I recommend, however if you are towing heavy on level 9 its really a moot point as you will trash the motor before you gota worry about the clutch.

carl48

wap i did not read his question very good. i agree with you. he needs the dd and he will trash the engine before clutch problems. might be on his first trip.

LGarrison

I can't agree with this statement it's all in how you drive your trucks My 5.9 has over 487,000 miles on it I have replaced my flywheel and clutch with a South Bend SMF and clutch pack rated for 450 hp at 208,000 miles, and never looked back. When the time come I will use the same clutch pack for replacement. Just a hint never tow at high HP or you will burn the motor up.

I run my Bully Dog in the tow mode, 395HP all the time.

JHardwick

I don't think the BullyDog in tow mode is equal to the Smarty WFO.

CD in NM

I am at 57K on my truck/stock clutch, I plan to go with either SB or Valair. Whichever one goes in it will be another DD, no SD for me. I know several people who have installed the new Valair 3800, they absolutely love it. I have driven a truck towing heavy with this clutch, it is really nice, not grabby, relatively quiet, probably what I will get.

I have a Smarty Jr, run the tow setting when towing, it is a remarkable difference over stock programming, I have been very pleased with it.


CD

wap

Youre missing the point.

I dont care what clutch he runs, smarty on 9 and towing heavy dont go together. BD on tow would be like smarty on 2.

AH64ID

The tow tune is a 130 hp tune?

Smarty on SW9 is a 170 hp over stock, that's more hp than the stock cooling and oiling system can handle for towing purposes. Most towing tunes are in the 40-70hp range because thats about all the cooling, oiling, and stock turbo can handle for towing.

homewrecker

The brain controlling the right foot is what will tear the motor up! Not level 9

CD in NM

Maybe it's both homewrecker - The brain controlling what setting the programmer is on AND the brain controlling the right foot?

Programmer manufacturers recommend the towing setting for good reasons, the reasoning you apply is what makes the difference.


CD

homewrecker

Well I tow on level 3, tnt/r though. Thats around a 190hp tune if Im not mistaken. If you dont push the skinny pedal to the floor its not making 500+ hp. Common sense and a set of gauges works for me.

JHardwick

Towing heavy with huge amounts of timing/fuel will not allow you to feather the throttle and keep momentum without melting something.

I pull 12-15k through the Rockies with nothing more than 30hp injectors, and I find myself "driving by the gauge" on several pulls across I70. I used to do it with a Quad Race box, and on any level I was driving by the gauge.

If you are pulling anything larger than a utility trailer with a heavy tune, you're simply asking for trouble, common sense would tell you that.

homewrecker

Well you tow your way and I will tow mine. My truck does very well towing the way it is set up.Using partial throttle does work. I dont use lots of timing Next time you hit a dyno set your electronics to the max and only use 3/4 throttle and tell us your hp numbers. All Im saying is it can be done. If you dont want to look at gauges and just put the pedal to the floor then by all means dont tow with a hot tune. And what do you say to guys with big inj's and twins that are over 500hp on stock tuning? Dont tow? Its the down side to modding these trucks. You cant just jump in and drop the hammer and not worry. People need to be educated with what the mods do and how they effect things such as towing.

To the op. Sorry for derailing your thread.

JHardwick

I see what you are saying, but some of these tunes are far too aggressive to tow with. When I say tow, I would say 10k+ since the OP stated "and something that will handle a smarty on 9 and this is heavy towing".

I've used a half a dozen different tuners, and they all ramp up the fuel/timing curve to some degree, that's what gives you that "seat of the pants" feeling. I had a box from some guys on the east coast that fueled so aggressively that I couldn't keep up with it empty in my 4:11/6spd dually. The truck sat right up and took notice! It was fun at first, but became aggravating trying to cruise through town calmly. There is no way that I would have attempted to tow with that box. With my wife's 3:73/6spd or an automatic, I might have liked it better empty, but there is still no way I would have towed with that box.

I have ditched tuners altogether and just gone with bigger injectors, because I keep the stock fuel curve that way and I have a trailer hooked to me 90% of the time. The torque band and fuel curve is much broader and flatter than most of these tuners are going to give you and tows way better IMO.

You can put your Smarty or TST on 9 and tow 20k# if you want, but I wouldn't and I wouldn't recommend any body else do it either. It's not about peak power, but the fuel curve getting there that makes a tuner more/less drivable.