Mopar92
Well-Known Member
That’s strange it isn’t painted. Where did you buy it? It’s hard to tell how deep your levers are in the case. Should be around .250”.
Looking at your PP, I don’t see a weight in any of those spring holes. I’ve never seen a Ram clutch that didn’t have a balance weight. I’m guessing that’s what it is. I’ve never seen a RAM unpainted. Where did you buy that?I'm interested in you problem and hopefully a known cause and solution to it.
I bought a stock replacement Ram #88766 B&B clutch from Summit last fall for my 340 Dart. I was only able to put about 150 miles before putting the car away for the winter. I did not notice any problems with it, but I have yet to put it under any real load.
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That’s strange it isn’t painted. Where did you buy it? It’s hard to tell how deep your levers are in the case. Should be around .250”.
Looking at your PP, I don’t see a weight in any of those spring holes. I’ve never seen a Ram clutch that didn’t have a balance weight. I’m guessing that’s what it is. I’ve never seen a RAM unpainted. Where did you buy that?
Pic is from Rams Facebook page.
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If you look at the picture, you can see all the fingers are up against the cover because they are not bolted down with a disc. When you bolt the pressure plate to the flywheel, this levers will move away from the cover (towards the flywheel). And you will have a gap between the cover and the lever. The gap can vary for a number of reasons.
Disc thickness. The thicker the disc the lower the finger height (fingers closer to the flywheel). If you start with a thinner disc than what the pressure plate was set up for, the fingers will be closer to the cover.
Disc wear. As the disc wears and gets thinner, the fingers move up towards the cover. This is why guys who abuse the clutch or ride the pedal will LOOSE freeplay quicker than guys who don't do either (I've known some who do both).
Been a while since I used a B&B cover, but *IIRC* the fingers can move back towards the cover when you are just sitting there. Again *IIRC* those plates either had 3 roller assist or 6 roller assist (let's hope it ain't a 6 roller cover...I don't *THINK* you need all the extra counterweight).
As the flywheel starts to rotate, those rollers are forced out to the cover. Sitting there those rollers move away from the cover and let the finger move up and down a bit. As RPM's go up and the rollers go to the outside of the lever on the cover side, they wedge between the cover and the lever. That adds some counter weight to your plate load. While the clutch is rotating, the finger can only move a very small amount once the roller gets into place. Then the finger height won't change. As RPM increases, those three rollers actually load the fingers more and add plate load.
I use a B&B pressure plate with Long style fingers. When my plate is bolted down the levers have some movement in them. I aways check my free play with the engine running at idle. My counter weights are bolted to the lever, where the B&B weights are not adjustable. That way the finger height is where it will be when the car is moving. I go for 1/2-3/4 inch of free play with the engine at idle. This will give me 3/4-1 inch when the engine is off.
My point of all this is I don't think you have a problem.
Back in the day, we ran a thicker disc, which lowered the finger height. Then we would raise the finger height back to where it should be with the thinner disc and then raise the finger height another .100 and you could shift at 7000 RPM with very little pedal.
Hope this helps.
I appreciate the reply. I do. But I have a problem. With 1/2” + TO bearing clearance the clutch has maybe 3” of travel and you can feel it pushing the clutch against the predal stop over 3000. It will push the pedal up 3” easy by itself. The fingers are moving a metric ton. It’s already killing my TO bearing.
What you find will be interesting. Please make sure you post with pictures.I’m not sure. We will know when we pull it.
I think I already told you I think there is something seriously wrong with this pressure plate PERIOD. Wrong parts, made wrong, something. I would be looking for an alternative.