ddestruel

OK im starting this out by saying Peter has been unbelievable his customer support is next to none on all of my trucks. And on this he already sent me a new disk to try, so i dont want to keep calling him asking questions without trying a few more things to see if i can resolve this.

That said. My issue is this:


My old stock clutch had 80k miles on it and it had held jsut fine but i knew it was getting near its life span pushing 380 hp so i decided to get a new SBC. when i removed the stocker there were three dime size ... a tad smaller hot spots on the flywheel and none on the pressure plate. that ought to tell you how i drive my trucks.

I installed a new OFE kit, new flywheel with input beaing sealed ballbearing and throwout bearing. I installed the kit buttoned the truck up. fire it up and with the clutch engaged it rattles???? it rattles like a loose hub or a loose throw out bearing. soon as you bring the rpms up from 800-1200 it goes away but my truck idles alto during the day and this rattle is as loud as my dual disk 12v. the strange things on this rattle is it isnt consistant some times the rattle is quieter, more of the time though it is as loud as my dual disk truck running right beside it.


So peter suspected it was possibly the disk, so he rifled me off a new disk. I really really appreciated that btw and i dont know what to do to thank you enough for trying that. since this is my DD and my buddy now owns my old 12v DD truck im kinda in a rut. So i installed the new disk and a new Throw out that i went and bought from dodge this morning just incase that was the culprit i just reassembled everything and it is still unbelievably loud.. i mean like darned near rod knock loud. from 100+ ft away you can hear the clatter and the 4" exhaust doesnt drown it out


Ive had 3 Con OFE's in the past and none have ever made any noise. this is my 1st 3rd gen to install one on but man this thing is loud. what gives. ive removed everything and reinstalled checking 4 times now and checked and rechecked everything i can think of. Im out of ideas. Im about to the point where im willing to drop it off at a shop and have them sort it out but i hate letting others touch my stuff.

Im about ready to tear it all back out re-install the slipping stock disk, pressure plate and flywheel since they are quiet and ship it back to have peter check it and see what he can figure out. but im dreading the idea of pulling that tranny again, even though i have the in and out down to 4 hours.


Please anybody experiencing the same thing? am i making a moutain out of a mole hill? did i miss something? i torqued evething to spec and locktited everything and the clutch disk had nothing loose on it.

By weds i gotta figure out what to do with this im getting tired of everyone standing next to my truck while it's idling asking me if something is wrong.


BTW when i put the stock clutch. flywheel and pressure plate back in the noise goes away so its not tranny or input. I also put the old 200k mile OFE pressure plate and disk and old flywheel in and they made no noise though it cant hold the hp past 1300 rpm it was a test and there was no noise.

?????????????????????????????????


This thread is in no way suggesting a SBC is bad. if i add it up i have had or installed for friends 22 of thier products in the last 4 years and NEVER had an issue. my last OFE lasted 200k miles and was smooth as silk with over well 450 hp towing most of its life. And i will buy more of thier products and recommend them in the future im just trying to find the Gremlin in this one.


HELP

Thanks

CoastalDav

I left my truck to have a SBC (South Bend Clutch Con O Kit) installed in my truck while taking a cruise in late January. When I picked it up I had the same noise your talking about. It would go away when the clutch pedal was pushed down. The noise would start again when the pedal was allowed to engage the clutch and pick up the tranny.

It was hard to hear inside the truck with the doors shut and windows up.
With the door open the noise was matalic and loud.

The shop that installed the clutch kit also installed a new rear main oil seal while it was apart. The mechanic in the shop said it was a bad imput shaft bearing on the NV5600. I disagreed with him but, they had to make it good.
It sure was not bad when it got there.

They send the tranny to a good tranny shop were they disassembled the entire tranny. They were unable to find anything wrong with the tranny with
185,000 miles on it. All the bearing races showed normal wear with nothing loose inside that would account for the noise. I will post some pictures when this is all over with.

So, I would not let them put it back together with the old bearings and synchros. Got all new parts. They put it back together, installed it in the truck and it still made the same noise. The test drive on the truck indicated
the 3rd and 4th gear synchros were not working properly.

The tranny shop pulled it out again, disassembled it and found they had the wrong synchros. Ordered new parts.

I contacted my vendor for the SBC kit. They talked to the tranny shop, who has in the past installed at least 6 of these kits with no problems. The vendor and the tranny shop tried every thing with no results.

I asked for a new kit, which they sent without asking any questions.

As of last Friday, the tranny was back together and they new kit was in the shop.

It should get assembled this week. I'll keep you posted.

I'm told its possible to install the throw out arm in backwards and it would make noise, but its really hard to do, I'm told.

This is really becoming a nightmare. I'm on a job 800 miles from the truck.

Dave

ddestruel

all the tranny shops that listened to mine thought it was a bad input bearing also. i explained there was no noise with one disk and a noise with the new disk. how can a bearing go bad that quickly it cant and if it did it would have some play and some serious metal shavings at the bottom of the tranny since the racket was so loud......... i told them they didnt know what they were talking about and that i would continue to pull and re-install it 20 times before id let a tranny shop touch my truck. they all wanted to charge me to try and tear down my tranny, no one could tell me though how a bearing noise could develop and go away with the changing of the disks (i saved my stocker and re-installed it when i heard the noise). i got on the phone to peter asap and the first thing he said was if the noise wasnt there before its msot likely not your tranny unless it was some extreme situation dont let anybody touch that thing, bearing noises are long term.

Peter and i tried numerous things, nothing got rid of my noise, unfortunately. so he sent me another disk. this one has a Luk hub instead of the spicer hub. noise is gone, we suspect it was just the harmonics of the motor tranfering through the hubs of those two seperate disks and into the tranny and echoing. The spicer hub looks super strong but for me i got 180k miles of my last luk style con ofe and would have got more had the throw out not died. I really wanted to drill the throwout install a grease fitting and then make a hose witha zerk that feeds through the bellhousing but alas time was short.

installing the throw out upside down is difficult.


Peter went above and beyond the call of service to help me with this one. i think he was about 2 minutes shy of flying out here to jerk that tranny out himself.


good luck with yours, id stay on that tranny shops but if they jumped the gun and didnt analyze eveything. like possibly checking shaft end play before disassembly or for metal shavings any evidence of a smoked tranny before tearing it down.

CoastalDav

Thanks for the reply. I'll let you know how it comes out.

Dave

CoastalDav

Finally got my truck back last Saturday the 23rd of Feb. As I mentioned earlier, a new kit was provided by my vendor. It was installed along with the tranny second rebuild changing synchros in 3rd and 4th.

The noise disapeared with the new kit installed. However, I have a slight hum or vibration above 75mph, and up in the RPM's bewtween gears, that almost feels like a balance issue with the flywheel, clutch assembly.

The tranny is still notchy going to third and forth especially when its is cold. After it warms up, it shifts really good. At least it doen not grind.

I picked up my Fifth Wheel and towed it back up to the job site area with no problems. I will say the SBC does a much better job picking the load up than the stock clutch in 1st and 2nd gear.

It cost me an addtional $1000.00 to get through this thing being that I ordered and provided the clutch for installation.

So I guess the morale of the story is have your shop order the parts, and you pay the mark up. That way, if its bad, they take care of it, not you.

Dave

ddestruel

Good to hear.



Peter took care of me on mine also, i dont mind doing the R&R on a 6spd twice so long as what is in there isnt going ot scatter in the middle of Nevada with a trailer behind you like .... ah hem my old centerforce did years ago.

stock600

I to used peter on my con fe. Since the day i installed it, the only thing better is the holding power. It shifts very notchy and is Super loud at idle with the clutch out. As you all stated, when you push in the clutch it goes away. With my 24v i had to kill the truck in drive throughs due to engine noise, now on my CR its Just due to this clutch. For 3 years i never killed it at the bank or a fast food D.T. but now youd better kill it OR hold the clutch in the whole time which i wont do i feel thats hard on the TOB. Not really sure what to do about it though, i called him the day i installed it and told him of the noise and he said it would prob. go away with a few miles? Trust me- not so far...... Im too not downing thier product, i love the holding power but not worth the noise,