Frankie
06-04-2014, 10:12 PM
As some of you may know, I have been fighting a vibration issue since last year when I did a clutch replacement on my 89 Fox because of a noisy TOB.
The engine was never perfectly smooth so I wasn't sure where the issue was coming from.
I installed the CJ Pony Parts Supreme clutch kit:
http://www.cjponyparts.com/cj-pony-parts-supreme-clutch-kit-t-5-5-0l-1979-1993/p/CKS1/
This year I swapped the MAF, injectors and resealed the lower intake.
The car still had the vibration so I figured it had to be a clutch problem.
So after 3000kms of driving, I was forced to pull the clutch again.
After pulling the CJ clutch and spinning it on the input shaft of the trans you could see the outside edge moving up and down but approx. 0.080"
On the pressure plate side, you could see that the clutch was riding off center by about 0.040"
Additionally, you can see that the clutch was only wearing around the outside edge (the pressure plate is "dished" slightly).
All this added up to cause a weird vibration around 1500-2500 rpm that would then go away and come back around 4000rpm.
So, my next thought was "CJ will stand behind their product, i'll give them a chance to make it right".
Here is their response:
Hello,
Your order was quite long ago, and there is no way to tell if it was made wrong or what caused the issue with the clutch. Because of the length of time, number of miles on the car, and the fact we do not offer any sort of warranty with a clutch, all I can do is sell you a new clutch at the current price.
Thank you,
Tom Peterson
So in their mind, 16 months is a long time for a collector car that spent 11 of those months sitting in the garage.
And 2000 miles is a lot for a clutch?
At this point, I bought a ford racing clutch kit:
http://www.summitracing.com/dom/parts/fms-m-7560-a302n/overview/
After installation of this kit, all the vibration is gone along with the engagement chatter I was previously experiencing.
Now I have the cable, quadrant, flywheel and clutch, all Ford Racing and it drives like a new car.
Here are some photos to compare the 2 clutches to each other (Ford Racing on the left in all the images:
Pressure plate from the front. Notice how beefy the FR cover looks.
1047
Pressure plate from the back.
1048
Clutch disk from the front. Notice the size of the central hub on the FR piece.
1049
Clutch disk from the back. Notice the larger springs and lack of voids between the central hub and the friction surface.
1050
Some comparisons of the specs;
Clutch disk overall diameter: FR - 10.5", CJ - 10.25"
Friction surface width: FR - 2", CJ - 1.75"
All this adds up to a clutch that bites harder and (hopefully) lasts longer.
The engine was never perfectly smooth so I wasn't sure where the issue was coming from.
I installed the CJ Pony Parts Supreme clutch kit:
http://www.cjponyparts.com/cj-pony-parts-supreme-clutch-kit-t-5-5-0l-1979-1993/p/CKS1/
This year I swapped the MAF, injectors and resealed the lower intake.
The car still had the vibration so I figured it had to be a clutch problem.
So after 3000kms of driving, I was forced to pull the clutch again.
After pulling the CJ clutch and spinning it on the input shaft of the trans you could see the outside edge moving up and down but approx. 0.080"
On the pressure plate side, you could see that the clutch was riding off center by about 0.040"
Additionally, you can see that the clutch was only wearing around the outside edge (the pressure plate is "dished" slightly).
All this added up to cause a weird vibration around 1500-2500 rpm that would then go away and come back around 4000rpm.
So, my next thought was "CJ will stand behind their product, i'll give them a chance to make it right".
Here is their response:
Hello,
Your order was quite long ago, and there is no way to tell if it was made wrong or what caused the issue with the clutch. Because of the length of time, number of miles on the car, and the fact we do not offer any sort of warranty with a clutch, all I can do is sell you a new clutch at the current price.
Thank you,
Tom Peterson
So in their mind, 16 months is a long time for a collector car that spent 11 of those months sitting in the garage.
And 2000 miles is a lot for a clutch?
At this point, I bought a ford racing clutch kit:
http://www.summitracing.com/dom/parts/fms-m-7560-a302n/overview/
After installation of this kit, all the vibration is gone along with the engagement chatter I was previously experiencing.
Now I have the cable, quadrant, flywheel and clutch, all Ford Racing and it drives like a new car.
Here are some photos to compare the 2 clutches to each other (Ford Racing on the left in all the images:
Pressure plate from the front. Notice how beefy the FR cover looks.
1047
Pressure plate from the back.
1048
Clutch disk from the front. Notice the size of the central hub on the FR piece.
1049
Clutch disk from the back. Notice the larger springs and lack of voids between the central hub and the friction surface.
1050
Some comparisons of the specs;
Clutch disk overall diameter: FR - 10.5", CJ - 10.25"
Friction surface width: FR - 2", CJ - 1.75"
All this adds up to a clutch that bites harder and (hopefully) lasts longer.