I have a south bend con ofe 13-1.25 and it only has about 3000 miles on it .I generally baby my truck but every now and then i unleash the beast. I went to show my friends the awsome second gear revup and launch that i have only done once or twice before and the thing made a fool out of me by slipping like a stock clutch. I was so ****** . Being a master mechanic and fairly seasoned diesel head, I know that the clutch isnt gone or wasted after only 3000 miles but do you have to seriously break in these clutches or what. Any feed back is great.


THANKS, JIM

 

Yes. You need to break them in fairly aggressively from what I've heard.

 

I could make mie slip for the 1st while if I tfloored it while climbing one particular hill at home in 4th gear with the comp on 5x5


after a while it quit doing it

 

Peter told me that the best way to break in his clutches..is stop and go city traffic. He said that this would seat it in real good. I have got nearly 40k on my clutch and it looks great.
I know it looks great because I dropped the tranny a few weeks back to do a new input shaft kit..The clutch still has 40-50k left in it.
The clutch may slip at first...but once it seats..it will hold!!!


Rick

 

South Bends are not the most aggressive clutch's on the market.

They will hold ALOT of power, but unless you get the dual disc (puller or street) they will not take much slipping.

Depending on what gear you used, what you describe sounds just like all of my South Bends...

If I was at a dead stop, and revved 'er up to 3,500 (in 3rd gear) then dumped the clutch,, the truck would lug to 3,000RPM, and start creeping away. Following behind me a cloud of clutch smoke...

If I was turned all the way to the left, and did the same, as soon as the truck moved an inch or so, the tires would break loose, and the clutch would grab, immediatly following was a cloud of tire smoke. (See my photo gallery)

These clutches will hold the power, but the aren't grabby enough to do the type of launch you are describing.
(That's why they have the street manners they do)

Merrick

 

thank you for the insite. the clutch does every thing i want it to do . So I think I was too hard on it is all.

 

The reason for this is that SBC doesn't use a super-high coefficient of friction on its clutches, IIRC. This is actually a good thing-- it's easier on the driveline and makes street manner much better.

 

Yah,, That's what I said.

Thanks for the simplification.

Merrick