Centerforce D/F clutch?

[Darrman]

I am getting ready to have my 5spd worked on here in the next couple weeks, and am thinking of upgrading the clutch at the same time. The clutch I have is newish, but stiff as hell and slips alot under torque.j
So I am looking at the Centerforce dual friction clutch kit, and am wondering if its worth it? Anyone already running this in their truck? Is it soft as the ad claims? My clutch now is a pain to hold at a light, I have driven a lot a of manual cars and trucks and have never driven one like this.
Thanks for any help!

 

[EXPLODER69]

I am getting ready to have my 5spd worked on here in the next couple weeks, and am thinking of upgrading the clutch at the same time. The clutch I have is newish, but stiff as hell and slips alot under torque.j
So I am looking at the Centerforce dual friction clutch kit, and am wondering if its worth it? Anyone already running this in their truck? Is it soft as the ad claims? My clutch now is a pain to hold at a light, I have driven a lot a of manual cars and trucks and have never driven one like this.
Thanks for any help!

I had a DF on mine & it worked fine. It finally crapped out on me after I was towing some full size rigs out of the mud. I have Centerforce II in there now & I noticed no difference. Works just fine, but I can still smell it!

 

[Anime]

The centerforce is a great performance clutch, but expensive. I've had various Heavy-Duty clutches and they seem to perform just fine, no slipping. Certerforce is a great brand if you have the money, but they make more sense in performance applications vs. a 4x4 if you're needing to slip the clutch half the time you're off-road.

In my experience, the master and slave cylinder make more difference in clutch pedal feel and stiffness than the clutch disc and pressure plate on an Explorer. When I changed the master cyl. from the original design to the newer one that claimed to have a better air purging design, the clutch went from easy and soft to amazingly hard to push. A bad or going bad slave, which is common on M5ODs, makes releasing the clutch to shift difficult, regardless of which clutch disc you have. If you go with a Centerforce, you might want to make sure the hydraulic systems are up to par.

 

[Spdrcer34]

...Question....

Why are you 'holding' the clutch at a light? Leaving the vehicle in Neutral does the same thing, and lets your already weak (not just yours, but a factory designed weak design) clutch live longer.

Besides, with gas at the prices they are at right now, you should be in Neutral when approaching a red light....coasting to a stop...it helps with gas mileage. I have gotten as much as 25mpg now with my 1st Gen, 4.0L OHV

Ryan

 

[briwayjones]

...Question....

Why are you 'holding' the clutch at a light? Leaving the vehicle in Neutral does the same thing, and lets your already weak (not just yours, but a factory designed weak design) clutch live longer.

Besides, with gas at the prices they are at right now, you should be in Neutral when approaching a red light....coasting to a stop...it helps with gas mileage. I have gotten as much as 25mpg now with my 1st Gen, 4.0L OHV

Ryan

Holding a clutch at a light doesn't effect the wear at all on a clutch as long as you hold it all the way in. Plus I do it to always be in control and ready. In case I need to move real quick for some reason like getting out of someones way. I also don't coast to a stop in neutral that IMO is not really a good practice. You should be in gear that way you are always in control of the vehicle and ready to go in a moments notice. Plus I compression brake, so that's another reason.

 

[Darrman]

I hit light after light in my town everyday, and sometimes its better to hold the clutch. I do use neutral on some stops, but not for gas reasons, my truck gets 14mpg from the mods I have done, so it makes no difference anymore .
I know my hydaulics are in good shape, slave was replaced with the clutch, I was just hoping the Centerforce would be softer like the ad claims.
I just need better hookup power, mainly due to the 31's and 3:55 axles.

 

[Spdrcer34]

I'm just saying that your slave/TO will live A LOT longer if you don't hold the clutch for more than 10 seconds at a time....The design is notoriously weak, and a HUGE PITA to change

Ryan

 

[atistang]

Holding a clutch at a light doesn't effect the wear at all on a clutch as long as you hold it all the way in. Plus I do it to always be in control and ready. In case I need to move real quick for some reason like getting out of someones way. I also don't coast to a stop in neutral that IMO is not really a good practice. You should be in gear that way you are always in control of the vehicle and ready to go in a moments notice. Plus I compression brake, so that's another reason.

it is harder on your throwout bearing, and the thrust bearings on the crankshaft


anyways, the idea behind centerforce clutches is they have weights on the fingers of the pressure plate so the higher you rev the engine the more pressure the clutch applies. It sounds like a gimmick but it works, sort of. I had one in my mustang and you could tell there was more pedal effort at 6k rpm than 1k. As for my experience in the car world the clutch did alright, mine would slip if i tried to bark 4th gear, but other than that it did alright. For stock applications they are probably great. On the other hand when you put a clutch that grabs harder with rpm's in an explorer, it kinda doesn't seem like there will be much benefit lol

 

[jimbo74]

i ran one in my toyota... it was ok..... but too jerky..... i ended up killing it in the hills of san francisco........ there was no slipping it.... and the hills just killed it


now in my toyota, i run another clutchm, marlin crawler 1600.... but that isnt avaialble for the fords... soo.....


the cf df was ok in my yota, but i found a better replacement.... i think it should be fine in the heavy explorer though

 

[briwayjones]

I'm just saying that your slave/TO will live A LOT longer if you don't hold the clutch for more than 10 seconds at a time....The design is notoriously weak, and a HUGE PITA to change

I dunno know. I've had 6 Explorers with manuals 4 of which have or had well over 100,000 miles and haven't had to replace a clutch, slave or throw-out bearing yet.

 

[Anime]

...Question....

Why are you 'holding' the clutch at a light? Leaving the vehicle in Neutral does the same thing, and lets your already weak (not just yours, but a factory designed weak design) clutch live longer.

Besides, with gas at the prices they are at right now, you should be in Neutral when approaching a red light....coasting to a stop...it helps with gas mileage. I have gotten as much as 25mpg now with my 1st Gen, 4.0L OHV

Maybe if there's no other traffic around. It's rather unsafe to be stuck motionless at or approaching an intersection, plus you look like an idiot when the light turns green and you're revving in neutral instead of being in gear and moving along.

 

[snoranger]

I'm running a D\F in my 94 Limited. I never drove it with a stock clutch ( I bought it with no trans, and converted it to stick). But I can tell you the pedal is stiffer than my 92 Ranger (stock clutch), but not as stiff as my 94 Mustang Cobra (<-- also has a D\F).
As far as slipping: When I first put my 35's on, I still had 3.73's, I could get it to slip a little by really beating on the truck. After swapping the 4.56's in, it will not slip. If you want a clutch that you can slip a little when wheeling try a C\F II.

BTW: I have not had good luck with centerforce throwout bearings, both of mine make noise in neutral.

 

[atistang]

Maybe if there's no other traffic around. It's rather unsafe to be stuck motionless at or approaching an intersection, plus you look like an idiot when the light turns green and you're revving in neutral instead of being in gear and moving along.

it really doesn't take that long to push the clutch in and hit first

 

[briwayjones]

it really doesn't take that long to push the clutch in and hit first

Do you drive in the city?

 

[atistang]

Do you drive in the city?

use to, if you are alert then its no big deal to naturally react without thinking, what if you need reverse at the blink of an eye

or you could just sit there and use the clutch to keep you from rolling