As you may know, I have a 2010 Dodge 2500 stick shift (G56 trans) that I use as my hauler. I bought it new and it spends most of its time hooked to a two-car trailer pounding down the interstate. It's got about 75k miles on it. Well, the clutch is acting like it has a broken spring in the pressure plate so I think it's time. Symptoms: complete loss of clutch disengagement that comes and goes. Pedal feels normal. No slippage. Occasional grumble/rattle when idling in neutral with the clutch engaged.
Currently, I have a mild tune on it that mostly fills in a hole at around 1500 rpm and deletes the Carbon Injection System. I can dial in a bunch more power with the tuner but I don't want to break anything. Still, I want a clutch that will deal with 650 lb of torks, lets me tow happily and be as friendly as the one that's currently in the truck. Until this failure, the stock clutch had been flawless and never complained.
Suggestions? Should I just pick up an OE Mopar unit, or is there something preferred? Looks like it came with a dual mass flywheel, is this something I should consider replacing with a solid unit?
My FIL just replaced (maybe 2 months ago) his Cummins clutch (noisy throw out bearing) and used the cheapest kit available at the local parts house and the cheapest DM flywheel he could find. I used it a couple weeks ago to haul 5000lbs of decrepid chevy van through the virgin river gorge. No trouble at all. YMMV
The South Bend stage 1/2 is what we install a ton of on the OEM+ trucks like yours.
What's the pedal pressure like on that? I know SB is a big name in Dodge diesel circles, but I'm not looking to enter any tractor pulls. Any thoughts on the flywheel?
The Fly wheel is nice, The stage 1/2 is ever so slightly heavier than factory. My father in law has one in his NV truck and has 200k on it. The last G56 truck I drove had a stage 2 and it was about perfect.
The factory clutch is a know weak point even at factory power.
Thanks. So you'd recommend keeping the dual mass or doing a single mass conversion?
In reply to Keith Tanner :
I dont like Dual Mass flywheels. They dont seem to last as long as the clutch its self.
I would get rid of the dual mass as fast as possible. If makes it slightly less forgiving, but the lack of noise is so worth it.
When I worked at the auto parts store, I sold dozens of Cummins clutch conversion kits to the used car dealer that specialized in pickups.
Everyone I've personally known with a manual Cummins got rid of the dual mass flywheel as soon as they could.
Is that simply due to failure rates? The Cummins forums are so full of dick measuring contests that it's hard to tell. I'm not going to be making 900 lbs of torque or towing 40,000 lbs. I really like the way the truck drives now, so I'm in no hurry to add any vibration.
Another vote for South Bend Clutch for your Ram Keith. I used them on my 2003 NV5600 equipped Ram. My stock flywheel (single mass) was resurfaced. I discussed the clutch and truck with SB and went with their recommendation. I don;t recall what it was however. I sold the truck in 2011 and the paperwork went to new owner.
The NV5600 was a cast iron bitch to R&R per the shop that did the job.
The dual mass like to fail, the springs will fail and the clutch will knock.
Got the old clutch out. It was a dual mass flywheel failure. Not complete, obviously, but starting to go. A piece of debris got loose and had cut through half of the friction disc legs, and must have wedged into place causing the "no disengagement" symptom.
The pressure plate and disc look basically new, they're in great shape. So the clutch has no problem dealing with what I ask it to do. I'm going to put in a Luk OEM replacement with a single mass flywheel - I can have it in my hands tomorrow morning. That'll keep the pedal pressure I like and I know it's strong enough.
The failure mode was about as good as it could have been, honestly. It happened when I was in town and not halfway across the country. Nothing exploded. It just failed in a way that let me know there was a problem. And now I know what a failed DMF sounds like.
