How do the driving manners/feel of an organic/feramic clutch compare to an organic/organic stock clutch? It's been some time since I've looked into clutches before getting side-tracked and seem to remember hearing that the ofe clutch can be "grabby", but, I'm not sure that's accurate and need my memory refreshed. Heck, I'm not even sure if my idea of "grabby" is the same as somebody elses. My only experience is with the stock clutch in my truck. So, how would you describe it? Thanks for the insite!

 

i have the ofe 13" conversion with my stock pressure plate modified for it. with 3.54 gears and 35" tires there is NO clutch chatter starting in 2nd gear. i have only 250 km's on it but it feels very similar to the stock one in my old beat 12 valve on 35's.

 

i have had my ofe for 2 years next month. the manners are excellent. once broken in, there is no chatter. i did not notice an difference in pedal effort(i'm a small guy too). it is very smooth when backing a trailer(mines 10k) and hold the power(578hp)... it is a very nice clutch..

 

I would agree with the above, but because it has been awhile for me I am a bit fussy exactly.

What I do remember is the pedal pressure was the same or less and to me the performance seems the same in reverse or forward.

The clutch definately hooks better than stock. So if I let it slow out, while at idle, then I get quite a bit more romp-romp-romp in engine rpm. If I let it out fast then there is a good possibility of a lurch. To get a perfect smooth start I have rev it up around 1000 rpm. With the stock I could get a smooth start at idle.

Jim

 

Heavier pedal pressure for me, but well within reason. Good starting manners, but it I have to give it more juice on a hill or it will chatter. Hard to get in reverse. This is my second transmission on the same clutch and reverse is exactly the same for both, so I have to say it is the clutch.

 

Thanks for the replies! I haven't been able to reply as quickly as I hoped. Once again, I'm getting side-tracked, but, for once it's for good reason. We have to take one of our cats in for surgery tomorrow, so, we're somewhat distracted and definately worried. We don't have kids, so, our cats are our kids. Anyways, this thread makes a good distraction from my thoughts of tomorrow.

I'm glad to hear they're managable and am kind of remembering similar info from when I first started to concider ofe clutches a while ago. I'm mostly just concerned about retaining manueverability in tight areas that my job requires me to deal with. I usually just slip the clutch in those situations and can see where something that's "grabby" will wear on me quickly. On the other side of the coin, since this truck is my daily driver, I want to finally be able to turn the pump up further without having the stock clutch dictate my fuel plate position and other settings I've done and want to do, which is currently what is happening. I guess I'm after that balance between drivability and more hp. Once again, thanks for the info!

 

You could get a smoother clutch that will hold if you picked up a heavy plate load organic faced 13" clutch. Those are good for 350-400 HP and don't really start to slip to 450. You could also get a kevlar/organic clutch. Kevlar is much smoother than feramic, but does not like boosted launches as the high slip high heat situations turn the kevlar into ash. I guess that you are a somewhat tame driver and I think the 13"organic heavy plate load or the 13" kevlar/organic standard plate load would be the ticket.

Beware of the heavier plate load, your leg will get tired at first driving in heavy stop and go traffic. To the point where you shift to neutral at red lights so you let off the clutch. BTW, I'm a young 26 year old 210 lbs and will admit that stop and go, the heavy clutch is no fun.

 

I hope this doesn't sound like a dumb question, but, what do you concider to be a heavy plate load? Strangely enough, until this truck, I've always had auto transmissions in my trucks. I've installed clutches in my friends' trucks, I just never had to select one for myself...until now.

Update on our cat. The vet x-rayed her this morning and verified the cancer had not spread to her lungs and, appearantly no where else. They operated and removed the tumor. The vet said it came out cleanly and it was the largest tumor he's ever removed, which I found a bit un-nerving since most his patients are horses. Because she's a fat cat, the tumor was hidden until it grew to a rediculous size. So far so good and it looks as if she's going to recover well.

 

I don't know the specs on mine, but it's a custom Kevlar/organic. I told them what I had in the motor and what I tow. Told the shop I needed to be able to creep 1/4" at a time when needed. It breaks like glass. Smooth as a baby's butt. The only negative is they tuned the geometry a bit (supposedly) to accomodate my needs and it doesn't disenage until the last 1/2" from the floorboard. If I get lazy and don't put the clutch in all the way, it can be hard to shift or grind.

I really wish I knew more about the clutch, but these guys were like super secretive. Price wasn't bad...about $800.

Yeh...I know...this doesn't help much...LOL

 

I've done lots OFE installs over the years, they're great, to me they are same mannered as stock and drive easy as pie. Pedal is light as stock too.
The one piece of advice I'll always give, when you get the new 13" flywheel, have it resurfaced. For years I was scratching my head on why some are smooth and some jumpy, til I found the flywheels show up usually 2 thou out. From then on every new flywheel gets resurfaced, and it makes a huge difference.

As far as maneuvering in tight areas. You should install a 2wd low kit on your truck, so you can use the low range gears on your transfercase. No more slipping the clutch. It's so much easier backing trailers this way.