bnold

Mine holds my power with ease after oh 20-30k... Lots of heavy towing as well... Think you have an issue if your slipping yours.. Your truck is no where near the rating of that clutch!!

SuperiorRam

yeah still slips but is getting slightly better i am told to believe that its not broke in yet now at +/- 650 miles

bnold

Ya nope... 650mile break-in is BS.. You HAVE a problem with that clutch

metal_miner

Yes.

I believe I am at the HP rating for the clutch, but the low-end torque must be what is slipping it due to the low rpm at which the slipping starts.

The combination of fast-spooling twins, Smarty TNT, low end kick from dual CP3, and the strong low-end VA C3.1 pressure box undoubtedly generates a lot of low end torque early in the rpm band.

I do believe it's not an installation error either. I installed it and it worked perfectly for almost a year, but it has slowly progressively started slipping more and more over the past 2 months or so.

mattfolsom

WOW! That's still a lot of money to pay for a Clutch that won't hold what its made to do, I will stick with the clutches that hold and so what I bought them for! I and many of other guy abuse ours and put them through a lot and not any issues, 40 PJ flatbed trailor with 20 wet round bales many of miles and lots of hard 4wd launches and no issues! But like a stated before we don't run SB....

enafzige

If you're running the mods listed in your sig, he's easily got 250 hp on top of your setup

I doubt there's many daily driver clutches out there that would hold 1,400+ ft lbs of torque used in the sub 1,600 rpm range...that's just a lot of hammering to withstand over time.

I know the 3250 has held 900 + on the dyno when the power is applied with higher rpm...

What is your Valair rated for? What is the plate loading? Is it a lever type or diaphragm? Is the floater plate free floating or banded/strapped?

Not meaning to wear you out with questions, just curious...

--Eric

SuperiorRam

seems to be getting better?

mattfolsom

I agree that truck does have HP on the one in my sig, but I was talkin about more than just my truck we have them in many of trucks and if the clutch isn't rated for the HP he has then why wouldn't they send him one that will hold with his mods? I am just sayin its a lot of money to have to buy a new clutch within a year, I don't have that kinda money at least lol and I have been around plenty of them, but when some1 calls about a clutch the 1st question is usually (what kinda HP ur truck have) and then furnish them with a clutch that holds that HP, anyways back to what the Thread was about, I am glad its getting better, good luck. And nice truck BTW

rip 112

Some clutches are cheaper for a reason. Metal miner is at the clutches hp point, daily driving can be the hardest on clutches, stop and go and mucho torque on top of that. My OFE slips, but hey, its been holding 50hp over its suggested limit for well over a yr now, and it still holds good on daily driving and towing levels. It actually holds fine alot of the time, just every once in awhile I'll catch it slippin.

metal_miner

I think I need to put my clutch ownership history into the big picture context so people understand where I am coming from. Rip112 was able to articulate one part of the history.

I bought the original SBC 3850 12CB from a fellow that sold his truck and he forgot that he had a brand new clutch sitting in a box on his back seat. It is safe to say that I got fair deal on the purchase as he had remembered when I was up in his area at Dynomite Diesel and we had spent time BS-ing about our trucks.

At that time the 3850 12CB clutches were just starting to become more and more popular for daily drivers that also wanted to sled pull, race, etc. There were no 3250 or 3850 DD diaphragm clutches out yet and Valair wasn't even mentioned as an option for clutches at the time. Even if they were a viable option, they probably had a huge uphill fight in terms of SBC brand recognition in the diesel performance world.

Anyhow, about 6 months later these 3850 12CB folks started reporting on the various diesel forums that it was getting hard to put the transmission in gear. Peter responded to everyone that posted to contact him. Soon after the same people posted favorable responses in terms of their dealings with SBC.

A few months later, I started getting the dreaded "couldn't get the clutch into gear" syndrome. I contacted Peter and he said in hindsight that the lever type plates were not meant for daily driving as the constant clutch-in, clutch-out of city driving was hard on the 4 levers as opposed to the diaphragm clutch set-up. He recommended the 3250 DD 12CB as it was proven numerous times of holding big power as "enafzige" alluded to in a previous post. This was also about the time the strong Smarty Betas came out and dual CP3's started gaining popularity. Anyhow, Peter asked for my address and I started to give my payment details. His response was, "Don't Worry - we didn't ask enough questions about your driving - expect to see the clutch next week." This was even after the 3850 was used for daily driving, hard 4x4 launches, hard towing, etc.

A few months after I got the 3250, the 38XX series of dual disc diaphragm clutches were released. Was I ticked? No, I was more impressed that SBC was constantly evolving their clutch line-up to keep up with the everchanging diesel performance world. Further, as stated earlier, my 3250 clutch was holding my truck power for about a year with no slipping.

Fast forward to a month ago and I called SBC to enquire about the purchase price of a new 38XX series diaphragm dual disc clutch. I told Peter what was happening and he didn't believe me! He wanted to see pictures of my clutch disassembled before I even talked about spending money! I responded that will not happen until the end of summer until I get some other house projects done, but I confirmed that I will take him up on the request for pictures when the time comes.

As far as Valair cluches go - a buddy of mine here in Elko has a Valair dual disc installed in his truck - same year truck as mine with injectors, dual CP3, and twins. Soon after he installed the Smarty TNT, he welded his clutch together doing some crazy stuff. Valair took care of him and he is happy. At the same time, it shows that Valair clutches are not immune to the ravages of insane diesel performance.

Honestly, I really have no dog in this fight. I am just going to stick with what I know for proven customer service and proven history of sustained performance.

Brian Lent

I think SBC has proven that their customer service is top notch, and have also heard great things about Valair also. It is nice to see someone stand behind there products like these two companies. Who else would given the circumstances that everyone drives differently. I've seen guys slip their clutches 40' at the sled pulls and the next time we see them, Peter sent them a bigger clutch under warranty. I just wish we got waranties on turbo's etc like we do with clutches.

SuperiorRam

up to 9XX miles still slips from 1800 strait to 2000rpm THIS STINKS

SuperiorRam

I'm still hangin with over a thousand miles on it it still slips from 1800 to 2000 when I get on er from 1500rpm WTH?

Brian Lent

When my 3600 was installed , it did not slip period. My brother had a 3250 with over 500 hp and it didn't slip either. I would take it apart and have a look at it again. Maybe it was missing something or even defective. No product is perfect, and human error is always a factor. If you tear it down and find a problem then I'm sure peter will make it right.