Catastrophic clutch disc failure

[Mike Szadaj]

Any one ever seen a clutch disc come apart like this? The tore up side was against the pressure plate.

 

[5.7 hemi]

Damn! Miss a shift?

 

[tnfastback]

Drive it like you stole it

 

[Gus]

Damn! Miss a shift?

looks like driver error but i wasn't there .

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Any one ever seen a clutch disc come apart like this? The tore up side was against the pressure plate.View attachment 820930 View attachment 820932

Yes... Where did the clutch come from? Doubt they'll warranty it but they should.... Making it hard to get out on Woodward.... Good Luck getting it back together...

 

[dukeboy_318]

Any one ever seen a clutch disc come apart like this? The tore up side was against the pressure plate.View attachment 820930 View attachment 820932

yep. Not on a mopar muscle car though. I had my 99 cummins do that too a Twin Disc South Bend Clutch rated for 550 hp and 1200 ft ft lbs. I thought I was under that limited, come to find out, on the dyno I was making 1325 ft lbs and 467 hp at the rear wheels under full boost, figure in a 15% driveline loss and well, I was over that limit. It literally shredded my clutch discs.

 

[BeepBeepRR]

I had one do something like this. I installed one in my old street ported 12a Rx7 I stabbed the gas and hit second I heard what sounded like gravel and then it stopped pulling.. Just made a loud racket. I took it apart found my disc blew apart and I put all the chunks in a bag and took it to autozone. They told me I installed it backwards.. I showed them it says engine side on the damn disc, reluctantly they refunded my money.

 

[moparedtn]

Is all that bluing from heat or did it come that way? What brand is that?
Diaphragm or B&B?

 

[Mike Szadaj]

From heat I think. Luk. Diaphram.

 

[AR67GTX]

What does the clutch surface look like? Did it chatter?

 

[Ironbuilt]

We would see that in Mack trucks quite often in the 80's and 90's. Mostly roll-offs and dump trucks. Overload the piss out of them, then give them to drivers that can't drive. Mostly driver error and abuse.

 

[steve340]

I have had a clutch plate blow the lining off one side like that. I revved the engine quite high and shifted and let the clutch go. It shuddered and I lost most of the clutch pedal pretty much instantly. The clutch had given no sign anything was wrong prior to coming apart.
**** happens man.
Surface the flywheel and fit a new clutch kit and you should be OK.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Put a McLeod in it...

 

[Ironbuilt]

Put a McLeod in it...

Doesn't do any good if the driver can't DRIVE!!!!

 

[1 Wild R/T]

Doesn't do any good if the driver can't DRIVE!!!!

Pretty harsh when we don't know what caused the failure... Yes what he did likely contributed to the failure but since at this point we don't know what he did unless I missed it somewhere...

I've dumped the clutch, side stepped the clutch.. Acted like a complete idiot... Never had a clutch come apart like that....

I took a S10 pickup apart that had a clutch like that, it was a part failure, the lining looked good, kinda like the lining here... But a few rivets let go... The clutch was less than a month old... Kinda like this clutch....

So maybe it's just a part failure.... LUK makes lots of clutches but how many do they make for big block Mopar's? McLeod has specialized in Muscle car clutches for at least fifty years.... I say put a known quality part in there & see what happens...

 

[MoparMur]

Back in the mid-70's I had a 4-gear '71 340 Duster. I was about 17 and needless to say was pretty hard on the car. Had milled heads, a dual-point distributor, and fenderwell headers. Actually was a pretty hot little car back in the day. Of course leaning hard on the car was tough on the clutch. I was a lot lizard at the Chrysler dealer in town, so it wasn't a problem to get parts. Except -- being young I was always broke. Spent all my money on gas and burgers. So first clutch decides it's had enough, beginning to slip. No problem, I'll just purchase one of these inexpensive rebuilt clutch kits for $40 through the parts dept. Then another, and another, etc. etc. Last one that failed lost every bit of the facing on the disc, both sides. So my solution? Pull the 4-gear out and throw in an auto wreckers automatic. And so was the demise of another muscle car by another dumb kid...

 

[AR67GTX]

I also think criticizing the owner is off base. We don't know the circumstances. Sometimes the line between performance driving and abuse is very fine. Lux clutches are pretty highly recommended as an OE type replacement for C2/C3 Corvettes (I own a 66) but they are pretty much a standard duty clutch and may not be up to the HP of his engine or some aggressive driving. We don't even know what he has for an engine in his car.

 

[Dipstick]

Avalanche failure, a small chunk failed and took out the rest. Not necessarily driver's fault.

 

[dvw]

The engine made more power than the clutch could transfer. My bet is it is a rebuilder style clutch. I'm assuming it's a hot rodded street car. Put a Centerforce dual friction in it and don't look back. Reasonably priced and stout enough to contain close to 450lb/ft.
Doug

 

[yella71]

I think the question was has anyone ever seen a clutch do that> yes I have seen hundreds of bad/broken clutches. lots do that.