Topic: Almost time for a new clutch, what to get???

[StvDiego]

Went out last weekend and really smoked the clutch (again) crawling up a rock hill in Coyote Canyon (same hill, again). By the time I got to the top it was smoking and so hot it was slipping pretty badly. It's the OEM clutch with close to 85k on it so sometime in the next few months I'm looking at replacement.

Question is, what should I be looking for? Is there an aftermarket clutch that is better than OEM for the 2.5 5-speed?

It gets a good amount of street time, usually gets towed out to the desert, and gets worked hard off-road which is normally at least once or twice a month so I want something that will hold up to some good abuse off road but won't burn off in record time.

Any recommendations (besides changing my clutch slipping style?)

[chrisfranklin]

Think you can buy an upgraded clutch for the 4banger from Centerforce. Don't know anybody using it, though.

[RoKnAzn]

LUK Progold Clutch....:P

[SMC4WD]

I'm running a Centerforce Dual Friction clutch and I love it.  Great pedal feel.  It's been in there for about 5 years (50k)...

I don't know about other brands though...

[Tall Boy]

I got a Luk clutch that has been in for 3 years. I had to replace the throughout bearing though, but the disk looked O.K.

[mad mike]

did you guys put these in yourselves and if so how hard was it?

[YJmechanic]

i didn't think centerforce made a dual fric for 2.5  last time i looked they had a stock replacement but only dual friction for the 4.0s

[chardrc]

i put my own clutch in a while after i got my jeep cuz it had a leaky throwout baring bladder thing... i did it by removing the motor(had to clean the oil off it anyways) and did it that way.. the hardists part was getting the motor back onto the input shaft for the tr ny.. just didn't want to line up for some reason. and second hardest was the wiring but that wasn't very hard at all.

its not very hard to do it just takes a while to pull the motor and stuff. you will need 2 people to get the motor back into the jeep

[YJmechanic]

pull the trans it is much easier than pulling the motor.  the reason it probably didn't go in is cause you didn't have the splines lined up just right.  and to align them i have had to turn the trans about 20% untill the lined up.  you can't really do that with the motor as easily.

[chardrc]

ya i hear of a lot of people just pulling the trany.. but my motor was caked with oil from having a major oil leak for over a year without it being fixed so i had to clean it anyways..

[Tall Boy]

I did mine myself. It took some time because I needed to find tools and such, particularly an adjustable head ratchet for the top bolts. It needs 2 jacks for the tranny/t-case combo.

[dunklervogel]

Put in a new clutch in my dads 89' s-10 quite a few years back.. was the scariest thing ever.  Had to balance the tranny on a jack to pull it out and put it back up in there... and pretty much had to be under the whole thing to get a good angle to work with.  If theres another way I find I might try it but otherwise I'm never doing that again :P

Oh and so i'm not completely trying to hijack the thread...
I'd go for a cheap stock clutch if one's available.. long as it lasts and gets the job done thats good enough for me

[Enjoi]

I went with the centerforce clutch about a year back. The clutch never worked right, it would slip and lock the petal up. Anyway i called Centerforce up and sent it to them, they said that it was due to an improper "warm up" period. Which i babied the thing for 400 miles! They refused to send me a new one or refund me. So i went down to the dealer and found it for cheaper and the thing works great know.

Also got alot of clutch swapping experience done. Replacing a clutch 3 times in a period of 2 months. It was also my first "major" mechanic operation...boy was i scared.