SouthBend Bronco Clutch

(made by Luk clutches) will be a failing point for anybody looking to do some towing, or medium to extreme off-roading and/or rock crawling. We are hearing reports already that with a stock bronco with all stock components are experiencing failures at around 10,000 miles with a stock clutch. To Better understand the stock clutch and its components we need to break it down to what the components are and its functions, The two biggest differences in the design of the stock clutch vs the South Bend Clutch design are

1. Luk Dual Mass Flywheel (DMF) Vs South Bend Clutch Single Mass Flywheel

2. Luk Self Adjusting Clutch (SAC) Vs South Bend Conventional Style Clutch

And of course, South Bend Clutch will be using there Engineered tested and developed clutch materials that will range from a mild build clutch that uses Performance Organic Material with a Graphite Impregnated ceramic to more of your extreme build using sinister Iron and graphite as well as Kevlar depending on how many different clutch applications they decide to make.

Let's take a look at the design of the luk clutch for a moment so we can better understand what has been going on inside of BroncBuster as well as any stock G6 Bronco using the Getrag 5/6/7 Mt1550 transmission.

A dual-mass flywheel is a rotating mechanical device that is used to provide continuous energy in systems where the energy source is not continuous, the same way as a conventional flywheel acts, but damping any violent variation of torque or revolutions that could cause an unwanted vibration. The vibration reduction is achieved by accumulating stored energy in the two flywheel half masses over a period of time but damped by arc springs, doing that at a rate that is compatible with the energy source, and then releasing that energy at a much higher rate over a relatively short time. On stock applications with stock wheels and tires this is not a bad design in theory, especially for newer or less experienced drivers in a manual vehicle. Unfortunately, anybody doing any great amount of towing especially towing up over steep grades or for those running bigger tires, horsepower modifications, doing medium to heavy duty four-wheeling, and then there's BroncBuster, which we added 40 inch tires and doing extreme rock crawling with its fair share of abuse while testing our steering components. Dual DMS is one of the leading contributing factors to our premature failures in the extreme environment we put it through. Moving on to the next.

Conventional and self-adjusting clutches, the trend of increasing engine torques and the growing demands on comfort require clutches capable to transmit a high torque on one hand but featuring low operation power on the other hand. The diaphragm spring development was the first step taken by luk  meet such demands. Whereas a clutch is a wearing component in vehicles luk has been investing great efforts to continuously develop and improve compensation systems to minimize those wear effects. In 1995 Luk started the production of the self-adjusting clutch which uses a system based on a load sensor to actuate the wear compensation system and consequently the effort on the clutch pedal. Besides the clutch cover the disc plays an important role in the coupling between the engine and transmission. As core element of this connection Luk has

specialized itself in tuning of axial characteristics system which provides modulation and clutch pedal actuation comfort. As secondary function clutch discs of modern developments allow the implementation of torsional dampers and its core part, which dampen the vibrations produced by the internal combustion engines, improving the users comfort.  The concept and design sounds wonderful however, like the old saying says KISS.. keep it simple....., In South Bend Clutch words “too many moving parts. Trying to compromise to add comfort to the driver is only putting more strain on these components, again we are not saying in stock configurations with a vehicle that is bone stock that you should upgrade. It will simply come down to personal driver habits over time and preference. Putting bigger tires on your bronco, horse power modifications, excessive off roading, Towing and like in our case extreme rock crawling it will be a must!

With both of Luks clutch components anytime you put your vehicle in high Torque situations the clutch is designed to slip without driver input to the clutch, between that and the deflection of the arc springs on the SAC and the designed slippage on the DMF you are only asking for trouble, and for premature failure if you do any kind of horse power mods, bigger tires, towing and off road driving.

Clutch is in stock and ready to ship so its time to upgrade!