[HITMONEY]

Story goes like this.. after a half day of wheeling I was in 4 Lo 2 descending down a moderate hill using engine braking. The engine was revved around 4500.
A rather loud BANG sounded and the rig free wheeled down the rest of the hill.

There was smell of burnt clutch but no real smoke as I have seen from other rigs *cough Moose Cough* before. I have never had a problem with the clutch, never overheated it before... never a hint of trouble.

The clutch pedal didn't feel right and I had no power to the tranny at all... none.

Yesterday my shop, ROCO4X4, pulled the tranny and this is what we found...

What is left of the clutch material

Looks like a rats nest

Whats left of clutch disk sitting on the pressure plate

Clutch Disk

What is believed to have happened is that the clutch started slipping either because the pressure plate was weak and could not hold pressure or maybe my rig's weight is outside the design parameters of the stock clutch for such a decline or a combination of the two. When the clutch started slipping the heat generated made the aluminum rivets holding the clutch together to fail and thus the clutch disk disintegrated.

It came apart with such force as a piece of the metal clutch housing went completely through the thickest part of the tranny bell housing...

It was surprising that it came apart on such a moderate decline... but thankfully thats when it did.

As cited in another thread I have ordered what appears to be the first Centerforce Dual Friction clutch kit and will do a write up about it in the modified forum when it arrives.

 

[CONVICT]

what exactly were your doing to cause this??

 

[rockrash]

Wow, I have had my clutch replaced under warranty once already. and it's starting to act up agin.I cant wate to see how this new clutch works out for you.

 

[HITMONEY]

what exactly were your doing to cause this??

As I stated, I was going down a moderately steep hill.. Moose512 was right behind me... Nothing major at all... I was in 4 lo 2 with both feet off all pedals just going down the hill using engine breaking.. was actually tightening the straps on my harness when it just went bang and then coasted to a stop.

 

[J. Kickerman]

Sorry to hear about your clutch.

Ummm Am I on www.thenewx.org? This is the reason I no longer have my Xterra. First clutch went at 8K and almost every 8K after.

Personally, I think it's the hydraulic clutch system. I give them two fingers up...!

With a hydraulic clutch you never really know what is going on. At least not like the old '48 Willys or other cable clutches.

My Jeep is an automatic. This is why. No matter how good one is with a clutch the hydraulic just isn't good enough.

 

[HITMONEY]

I don't think the clutch on the JK is that bad, at least I haven't heard of to many instances of something like this happening, especially at 7k on the odometer as mine has.

I may have had a defective disk.. loose rivet, bad pressure plate, who knows.
My rig is definitely not coddled on the trail and it weighs significantly more than it did stock... the pressure plate possibly couldn't keep a positive engagement at high RPM and let loose.

The clutch I ordered supposedly has weights on the pressure plate that increases the engagement pressure as more centrifugal force is applied at higher RPM.

 

[09JK]

the type of mods he has and the way he runs her i think 7k was pretty good for a factory clutch :bounce:

 

[car-67]

The stock clutches in 07-08 JKs are weak, ive seen a few that have come apart. Ones under normal use will start squeaking on accel,decel, etc. But ones that see some good use offroad crap out. Theres an updated clutch disc in the 09s, not sure what year yours is. Has it been fixed yet? Good time for a beefy ugrade !!

 

[HITMONEY]

The stock clutches in 07-08 JKs are weak, ive seen a few that have come apart. Ones under normal use will start squeaking on accel,decel, etc. But ones that see some good use offroad crap out. Theres an updated clutch disc in the 09s, not sure what year yours is. Has it been fixed yet? Good time for a beefy ugrade !!

Mine is an 08.. and it definitely sees good use off road.. lol

I am waiting for the parts to come in from Centerforce.

 

[car-67]

Good call man, centerforce make a great clutch! Just make sure you follow the break-in instructions to a T

 

[Grant211]

i use to see all types of clutches when i worked in a autoparts store... i never saw one that bad.

 

[J. Kickerman]

Centerforce wasn't an option for the X. Probably because they knew it to be totally underengineered from the get go. Tried a clutch masters but no go.

 

[Dr.Dirty]

Good call man, centerforce make a great clutch! Just make sure you follow the break-in instructions to a T

ahhh words of wisdom i ran the dual friction in my rangers and yes you need to beak them in correctly or you are wasting your money

 

[car-67]

ahhh words of wisdom i ran the dual friction in my rangers and yes you need to beak them in correctly or you are wasting your money

Definately.. a friend of mine put one in his car and without breaking it in took it to the drag strip the next day. After 3 launches it was no more lol. When he took it apart again the disc was so glazed it just couldnt grab. And this wasnt a drag car, just a measly civic

 

[smokey]

Sorry to hear about the clutch. I am sure that was a pisser for the weekend. Other than the breakage I hope you had fun in Ocala.

 

[[email protected]]

Story goes like this.. after a half day of wheeling I was in 4 Lo 2 descending down a moderate hill using engine braking. The engine was revved around 4500.
A rather loud BANG sounded and the rig free wheeled down the rest of the hill.

There was smell of burnt clutch but no real smoke as I have seen from other rigs *cough Moose Cough* before. I have never had a problem with the clutch, never overheated it before... never a hint of trouble.

The clutch pedal didn't feel right and I had no power to the tranny at all... none.

Yesterday my shop, ROCO4X4, pulled the tranny and this is what we found...

What is left of the clutch material

Looks like a rats nest

Whats left of clutch disk sitting on the pressure plate

Clutch Disk

What is believed to have happened is that the clutch started slipping either because the pressure plate was weak and could not hold pressure or maybe my rig's weight is outside the design parameters of the stock clutch for such a decline or a combination of the two. When the clutch started slipping the heat generated made the aluminum rivets holding the clutch together to fail and thus the clutch disk disintegrated.

It came apart with such force as a piece of the metal clutch housing went completely through the thickest part of the tranny bell housing...

It was surprising that it came apart on such a moderate decline... but thankfully thats when it did.

As cited in another thread I have ordered what appears to be the first Centerforce Dual Friction clutch kit and will do a write up about it in the modified forum when it arrives.

OUCH rough way to upgrade

 

[rockrash]

So is it in? How does the clutch feel?

 

[BADGER]

Ummm Am I on www.thenewx.org? This is the reason I no longer have my Xterra. First clutch went at 8K and almost every 8K after.

Personally, I think it's the hydraulic clutch system. I give them two fingers up...!

With a hydraulic clutch you never really know what is going on. At least not like the old '48 Willys or other cable clutches.

My Jeep is an automatic. This is why. No matter how good one is with a clutch the hydraulic just isn't good enough.

I know exactly how you feel. I was a member over there too with an 07 OR. Honestly I sold my X because it was paid for and I needed the cash dump, and I took that thing to places no Xterra should have been expected to go...but I HATED taking it out and wondering when I was either going to smoke the clutch or worse yet, randomly grenade the front diff out on the trail.

The 2nd gen X is a case study in driveline under-engineering, backed by a company who would flatly deny warranty work based on a single scratch on a skid plate. Screw 'em, I'm in the Jeep fold.

 

[Moose512]

So is it in? How does the clutch feel?

Centerforce is finalizing the details of the clutch before they send it to production and begin shipping. Hitmoney is still waiting.

 

[toadontheroad]

I just got the clutch replaced in my 08 under a TSB and I wonder if they are addressing this issue with the replacement?