Time for a clutch- need reccomendations

[Hybrid455]

I'm intrigued by the thought of a 12.25" clutch with extra damping springs in it- perhaps I'll call Ft. Wayne clutch tomorrow.

Keep your input coming guys-

Ryan

There are many different brands that make flywheels for these things. It's worth a call to Ft Wayne Clutch
If you plan on going with an advanced clutch surface, or towing heavy, there really is no other choice but a SMF . I fought it tooth and nail, I really wanted to keep the DMF but after that bit, never again, and with the 12 1/4" setup, all those extra springs keep the thing so quiet, I really haven't had any noise to complain about.

X2 When my DMF died it was ugly. I did what I had to at the time to get my truck together and my set up was inexpensive. This really seems to me to be the way to go providing the noise concern is remedied by the extra dampening springs. Note: post 6 and 7. Smokey 73 says he had a lot of noise with the FT Wayne set-up while RLDSL says he didn't notice a difference but already had the synthetic 30wt atf in it. My truck just has mercon5 in it. I'm pretty sure that mercon 5 is a full synthetic but I'm not sure about the viscosity. Call me ignorant but that was the first I heard of differences in viscosity for trans fluid. Maybe I should just add a Qt of Lucas to what I got? I'm going to ck it out and change it this weekend if I'm not diggin out of a snow drift. I'll let you know if there is a huge improvement.

 

[Hybrid455]

I'm intrigued by the thought of a 12.25" clutch with extra damping springs in it- perhaps I'll call Ft. Wayne clutch tomorrow.

I found this link to be informative http://www.rsgear.com/articles/2008_08.pdf

 

[65sixbanger]

maybe there are two differnet DMF flywheels, Because as Mel said, there isn't anything that I can see that would just break besides the springs. And there seems to be only one friction disc. I haul Heavy pretty often and have not had a problem yet, knock on wood.

 

[Agnem]

Look up the Lucky Mod in the tech articles. We have a lot of dismantled DMF pics in there.

 

[Bjober]

Do we see the same pictures? All pictures here shows 2 frictionplates forced apart by 2 thrust washers. The frictionmaterial transfers the torque to the 2nd flyweel , the clutchside. If you remove those 2 thrust washers there are nothing that stops the 2 flywheelmasses to rotate independently.
The ring gear plate, the 6 springs and the 2 friktionplates will rotate as one piece , and the clutch plate as the other piece.

What i have done is to drill and pin the frictionplates together to the clutch plate. This will prevent the torque reduction. No slip.
Then i have spreaded the forks on the friktionplates that aligns to the 6 springs so there is no free movement between the springs. Still a DMF with damper springs but direct alignment to the springs in both directions without the 1" free rotation.

 

[RLDSL]

I'd like to know where this concept of an overload device in the DMF is coming from. I've taken several apart, done 3 lucky mod's, and do not see any way the moveable portion of the flywheel can rotate more than a maximum of about 3" within the confines of the flywheel "housing". There are a zillion parts in one, all of which produce friction and spring dampening. However, there is nothing that will cut loose and allow one piece to rotate around the other more than the distance I described. If one were to be somehow overpowered, it would simply break, never to function again.

AHA! I finally found the pictures and the description of operation, and naturally, it's right here on OB scroll down to post #8 and it becomes plain as day. The thing doesn't look like a clutch, it simply looks like another stacked section of steel plate, but the fact that they are convex spring steel forcing against the plate is what does the holding, Once you overheat spring steel, we all know what happens there

 

[franklin2]

When I was researching the DMF, I picked up the DMF overload clutch info off a website that sold clutch kits. They said it was incorporated to protect the zf from overload.

When I took my DMF apart, if I remember correctly there was no solid connection between the center hub and the "winged" part in the picture below.

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There are another set of clutches under the hub, they are the smaller diameter ones in the picture below. It seems there are two sections to the DMF. The large clutches go the damper or "springed" part of the flywheel, and the smaller clutches go the overload section in the center hub.

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[Agnem]

Well I'll keep an open mind about this. There are so many dang parts in there, it makes you wonder how anybody ever figured out this combination of junk would work.

 

[Vek]

A switch to a LUK resulted in a lot of non-rollover Clackity Clack noise at idle, and the same but VERY loud when towing between 2100 and 2300 rpm (right where you want to be). Clutch holds and feels great, but geez it got noisy. The low-speed rollover noises are a non-issue.

I'll be working on doing some sound isolation now, with mats on the floor panels and firewall, and maybe on the flywheel inspection cover...

truck has hypermax and intercooler.