Well I think my Southbend clutch sh*t the bed.

[vagike]

Yesterday, when I was backing into a parking stall at work, something caused my clutch to grab and not let go and nearly caused me to rear end the car behind me. AND then I can't press the clutch in.

Based some of the post I have read, my current theory is a dampening spring fell out of the disc and is now caught between the pressure plate conical spring and the disc..... but we'll see what the shop finds out.

Either way, a CM FX350 will be going in.

 

[Cryptic1911]

how many miles? and the fx350 aint any better.. I think the newer southbends have a better center hub so they dont' have issues with axial misalignment anymore

 

[Red5pade]

how many miles? and the fx350 aint any better.. I think the newer southbends have a better center hub so they dont' have issues with axial misalignment anymore

i disagree. im constantly hearing about sb clutches going out. i had my first fx350 go out 2k miles later, but idk what caused that. the second time was the tob. get a tob and the fx350 is a great clutch, just make sure its in right. the provided tool is usually wrong, but a good shop will know this. both times they sent the wrong centering tool for some reason. cm needs to fix that

 

[Red5pade]

it may be a bad tob. is it leaking fluid? is the pedal to the floor and not coming back up?

 

[donjuan1jr]

i disagree. im constantly hearing about sb clutches going out. i had my first fx350 go out 2k miles later, but idk what caused that. the second time was the tob. get a tob and the fx350 is a great clutch, just make sure its in right. the provided tool is usually wrong, but a good shop will know this. both times they sent the wrong centering tool for some reason. cm needs to fix that

Its the right tool but the clutch mfgs dont realize theres not a pilot bearing, the tools made for that.

You can take up the slack for that with tape, cut off the nub or use a socket. Ive done all three, then i just bought all the centering tools id need. Its a small detail, its just to hold the disc there while bolting it all together.

OP talk to clay, he offers good pricing on cm stuff.

 

[vagike]

The clutch has been in the car for almost 5 years, and put almost 100000kms on it.

It's not a matter of the clutch pedal returning, the clutch pedal will not go to the floor. Something is impeding it.

A few co-workers were walking by my car just as I was trying to back-up when they heard what sounded like 'shrapnel', or metal bouncing off metal until I stalled my car by two-footing the brake.

Clay and Nik are pretty much the CM dealers for most of the area.

TOB????

 

[Slave IV]

After two SB clutches failed due to poor qc and mismeasured tolerances, my mechanic will not install them again. Hope the new ones are better but CM are custom made from original parts while SB clutches are made from piecing together and modifying existing oem clutches from different cars.

 

[Cryptic1911]

I don't know why everyone seems to favor one over the other.. they both have had plenty of failures. Most for the same reason. Also, they use basically the same parts that everyone else does. Fidanza/Exedy flywheels, sachs center hub assemblies, clutchnet and sachs pressure plates, and then they just change the friction materials. There isn't a clutch for our cars that is 100% made by a single aftermarket company. They all mix and match

 

[Slave IV]

Didn't know that about Clutchmasters...Whatever the case, CM seems to have better QC to me so far.

 

[kal-el]

The clutch has been in the car for almost 5 years, and put almost 100000kms on it.

It's not a matter of the clutch pedal returning, the clutch pedal will not go to the floor. Something is impeding it.

A few co-workers were walking by my car just as I was trying to back-up when they heard what sounded like 'shrapnel', or metal bouncing off metal until I stalled my car by two-footing the brake.

Clay and Nik are pretty much the CM dealers for most of the area.

TOB????

Why the jump to CM? Are you saying 5 years and 62,000 miles is a bad thing? Seems pretty good to me. I'll assume you drive spirited. After all if none of us did, there wouldn't be any reason to upgrade the clutch in the first place.

 

[vagike]

I don't know if I would class the change as an upgrade. I should have been more clear; 'my Southbend stage 2 endurance clutch sh*t the bed.' I am believing the FX350 is an equal match to the Stage 2 Endurance for clamping force.

I am convinced there will be a ton of material left on the disc, and that something else has caused the failure. If a dampening spring that has popped out, then I can't see my driving style being the cause, since the failure happened while I was backing in to a parking stall.

I purchased a Southbend Clutch because I got a deal through APR on shipping. This being before I started dealing with CTS on components, and until APR dropped SBC from their website.

 

[vagike]

Are you saying 5 years and 62,000 miles is a bad thing?

A user had asked.

I should be able to get more out of a clutch, assuming the friction material is only wearable part.

There were no precursors the clutch was going to fail that morning.

 

[vagike]

I don't know why everyone seems to favor one over the other.. they both have had plenty of failures. Most for the same reason. Also, they use basically the same parts that everyone else does. Fidanza/Exedy flywheels, sachs center hub assemblies, clutchnet and sachs pressure plates, and then they just change the friction materials. There isn't a clutch for our cars that is 100% made by a single aftermarket company. They all mix and match

Trying someone different, plus being able to deal with a dealer on my side of the border is a nice change.

 

[vagike]

After two SB clutches failed due to poor qc and mismeasured tolerances, my mechanic will not install them again.

The two shops I deal with are the same way.

Southbend has also had issues with their diesel clients as well.

 

[vagike]

haha Light bulb

TOB=throw out bearing.