New Clutch Question

[Elwoodj]

I smoked my clutch last week(took off in the wrong gear with the trailer attached). This was driver errow. The truck has 139000 miles on the oem clutch. It still works fine. The question is would you proactively replace it or don't fix until it is completely broken?

[Grit_dog]

bobsallyh wrote:
Well since we fulltime and pulling a 40' fiver with our 2003 Ram dually quad, the throwout bearing went south at only 189,000 on the clock. Absolutely no problem with that. Was on the road and a shop put in a clutch that only made it 29,000, something wrong with that! So 2 months ago while at our snowbird location in Yuma, AZ., I had a South Bend clutch along with the hydraulics installed. Can't tell you anything about how it is or will be since there is only about 3,000 miles on it. I do know that the throwout bearing on the SB will probably be the weak link. Only aftermarket stuff on this truck is the exhaust brake and fiver hitch.

You're correct, if you are easy on the clutch, it may outlast the throwout, but you shouldn't have to worry about it for a long time, especially given how long the first one lasted. Tells me a lot of over the road miles (throwout is only doing work when your foot is on the clutch) and you don't sit at stop lights with the clutch pedal depressed.
SB is the gold standard for clutches. I abused an OFE clutch pretty good and got 100kmi out of it.
You should not have to touch the clutch or any of its components likely longer than you'll have the truck unless you're shooting for 500kmmiles!

[bobsallyh]

Well since we fulltime and pulling a 40' fiver with our 2003 Ram dually quad, the throwout bearing went south at only 189,000 on the clock. Absolutely no problem with that. Was on the road and a shop put in a clutch that only made it 29,000, something wrong with that! So 2 months ago while at our snowbird location in Yuma, AZ., I had a South Bend clutch along with the hydraulics installed. Can't tell you anything about how it is or will be since there is only about 3,000 miles on it. I do know that the throwout bearing on the SB will probably be the weak link. Only aftermarket stuff on this truck is the exhaust brake and fiver hitch.

[Grit_dog]

You could buy a programmer and a new clutch for the cost of gears and not have to crack the axles open. If it's 2wd this may be a somewhat economical option, but if your doing it for help getting off the line with that big 5ver, a new stout clutch will keep you from smoking the clutch. NV5600s have good low and reverse creeper years as I recall.
IMO, new gear sets aren't a good roi.

[Elwoodj]

Thanks to everyone for the replies. I am not going to change the clutch now. I will check the price of changing gears to 410.

[time2roll]

Usually clutch will start the slipping in a higher gear. Slow down and use a lower gear and less throttle to get you to the destination to park the trailer and head to the repair shop.

[memtb]

Grit dog, You're correct, all I saw was 6-speed tranny. And, thought immediately of the later models (G-56 Trans). Though, if got it hot with 140K miles, I would be afraid it may let me down on the road. memtb

[Grit_dog]

^Not a G56 trans. He has an 04. Different trans, different OE clutch.

[memtb]

Elwoodj, The dual mass clutch systems in the Dodge leaves much to be desired! Consider yourself lucky to have made it that many miles, especially when doing heavy towing! I "smoked" mine while driving (with 5 yards of gravel in my dump trailer) down the highway, While accelerating to pass a slower vehicle. I had done some exhaust work and a power upgrade, and had "way more" power than I had clutch!

There are several aftermarket clutch systems available for the Dodges. They are designed to handle much more torque and horsepower than the stock clutch. The only drawback is noise! They are noisier than the dual mass system (which is explained in the clutch information).Southbend and Valair, come to mind. We went with Valair. There are clutch systems of different designs for different power outputs. If you do any power upgrades to your Cummings, an aftermarket clutch is a must.

Cummins Forums is a great source of info for all Dodge related topics. Good Luck, memtb

[p220sigman]

If it isn't slipping, I would leave it be. Last vehicle we had that had a manual transmission was traded the day it turned 200K miles and was still on the original clutch. Again, not towing, but mostly city start/stop driving.

[Cobra21]

If you fried it, it will slip.

[Grit_dog]

You said it, still works fine. You didn't kill it, you just put like 10,000 miles on it in one dump of the clutch!
NV5600 clutches are pretty good. Seen guys run added power through them for a lot of miles.
But if you need a clutch.......Southbend.

[mtofell1]

In the old days I drove cars with failing clutches for 10's of thousand's of miles. Granted, that was a Toyota Corolla and you're talking about towing so it's a bit difference. I'd at least run with it for a while and see how it feels. You usually have a lot of life left even once it starts to slip.

[time2roll]

No, I would not replace the clutch for one burn-in as long as it holds now. May still be good for 50,000+ miles.
If you need to spend some money consider some 4.10 differential gears to make it even easier on the clutch.

[jus2shy]

Typically, a clutch will start to slip long before it's ready to totally let go. If you notice your engine revving sooner/higher than before, or you've fully let go of the clutch and notice some play between engine and speed, then it's time to think about getting a new clutch.