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SOUTH BEND CLUTCH

Browse South Bend Clutch Parts Online by Make, Model, and Year. South Bend Clutch makes arguably the best Cummins, Duramax and Powerstroke replacement clutches on the market. Diesel Power Products is ... read more

SouthBend HD Replacement Hydraulics 03-18 Cummins SBCHYDX750 5.00 SouthBend HD Replacement Hydraulics 03-18 Cummins South Bend Clutch HYDX.750 If you've replaced your NV5600 or G56 clutch with an upgraded unit, this is a great add-on to give greater pedal apply pressure, and allow you to adjust the throw of the pedal. South Bend 13" Dyna Max Clutch Kit 88-04 Cummins 5 Speed Getrag / NV4500 SBC-13125-OK 110.00 South Bend 13" Dyna Max Clutch Kit 88-04 Cummins 5 Speed Getrag / NV4500 South Bend Clutch 13125-OK Need extra holding power from your clutch for heavy hauling? The 13" Dynamax is perfect for your Cummins equipped Ram. South Bend 13" Heavy Duty Organic Clutch Kit 88-04 Dodge 5.9L Cummins 5 Speed Getrag / NV4500 SBC-13125-OK-HD 110.00 South Bend 13" Heavy Duty Organic Clutch Kit 88-04 Dodge 5.9L Cummins 5 Speed Getrag / NV4500 South Bend Clutch 13125-OK-HD Need extra holding power from your clutch for heavy hauling? The 13" Organic Heavy Duty is perfect for your Cummins equipped Ram. South Bend 1670104-6 Replacement Flywheel 00-05 Dodge 5.9L Cummins NV5600 6 Speed SBC-1670104-6 62.00 South Bend 1670104-6 Replacement Flywheel 00-05 Dodge 5.9L Cummins NV5600 6 Speed South Bend Clutch 1670104-6 The factory flywheel in your transmission can only be resurfaced so many times before it needs to be replaced. This is a direct replacement flywheel kit featuring a 13" diameter and 1-3/8" input. South Bend Clutch 12 1/4 Dyna Max Clutch Kit 88-04 Dodge 5.9L Cummins non-ETH SBC-0090 65.00 South Bend Clutch 12 1/4 Dyna Max Clutch Kit 88-04 Dodge 5.9L Cummins non-ETH South Bend Clutch 90 Diesel Power Products carries the South Bend Clutch 12 1/4 Dyna Max Clutch for 88-04 - 5 and 6 speed Dodge Cummins South Bend Clutch 13" Full Feramic Clutch Kit 89-04 Dodge 5.9L Cummins 5-Speed SBC-13125-FEK 42.00 South Bend Clutch 13" Full Feramic Clutch Kit 89-04 Dodge 5.9L Cummins 5-Speed South Bend Clutch 13125-FEK South Bend's 13" Dyna Max Full Feramic clutch kit provides a mesh of great holding power with good driving manners for those Cummins up to 550 RWHP. South Bend Clutch 4 Paddle Spicer Disc Design Clutch Full Ceramic 08-10 6.4L Powerstroke SBC-1950-64CBK 49.00 South Bend Clutch 4 Paddle Spicer Disc Design Clutch Full Ceramic 08-10 6.4L Powerstroke South Bend Clutch 1950-64CBK This 4 Paddle, Spicer Design, Single Disc Clutch kit for your 6.4L is fully ceramic and is designed for high performance trucks up to 1000 lb ft of torque. South Bend Clutch 4 Paddle Spicer Disc Design Clutch Kevlar/Ceramic 08-10 6.4L Ford Powerstroke SBC-1950-64DFK 49.00 South Bend Clutch 4 Paddle Spicer Disc Design Clutch Kevlar/Ceramic 08-10 6.4L Ford Powerstroke South Bend Clutch 1950-64DFK This Moderate Performance 4 Paddle, Spicer Disc Design, Clutch kit is designed for 800 ft/lbs of torque, and is best suited on your 6.4L Powerstroke for daily drivers and those used for towing. South Bend 4 Paddle Spicer Disc Design Clutch Kit Full Ceramic 03-07 6.0L Powerstroke 1950-60CBK SBC-1950-60CBK 47.00 South Bend 4 Paddle Spicer Disc Design Clutch Kit Full Ceramic 03-07 6.0L Powerstroke 1950-60CBK South Bend Clutch 1950-60CBK This 4 Paddle, Spicer Design, Single Disc Clutch kit is fully ceramic and is designed for high performance trucks up to 1000 lb ft of torque. South Bend Clutch 4 Paddle Spicer Disc Design Clutch kit HD Organic 08-10 6.4L Ford Powerstroke SBC-1950-64OK-HD 47.00 South Bend Clutch 4 Paddle Spicer Disc Design Clutch kit HD Organic 08-10 6.4L Ford Powerstroke South Bend Clutch 1950-64OK-HD This Moderate Performance 4 Paddle, Spicer Disc Design, Clutch kit is designed for stock horsepower trucks that are looking for a heavy duty upgrade South Bend Clutch 4 Paddle Spicer Disc Design Clutch kit Kevlar/Ceramic 03-07 6.0L Powerstroke SBC-1950-60DFK 90.00 South Bend Clutch 4 Paddle Spicer Disc Design Clutch kit Kevlar/Ceramic 03-07 6.0L Powerstroke South Bend Clutch 1950-60DFK This Moderate Performance 4 Paddle, Spicer Disc Design, Clutch kit is designed for 800 ft/lbs of torque on a truck that is daily driven or towed. South Bend Clutch Dyna Max 13" Organic / Feramic Clutch Kit 89-04 Dodge 5.9L Cummins 5-Speed SBC-13125-OFEK 110.00 South Bend Clutch Dyna Max 13" Organic / Feramic Clutch Kit 89-04 Dodge 5.9L Cummins 5-Speed South Bend Clutch 13125-OFEK Diesel Power Products offers South Bend Clutch Dyna Max 13" Upgrade Kit for 89-04 Dodge Cummins 475hp-1000ft. Lbs of Torque

Browse South Bend Clutch Parts Online by Make, Model, and Year.

South Bend Clutch makes arguably the best Cummins, Duramax and Powerstroke replacement clutches on the market. Diesel Power Products is proud to offer their complete line up of clutches from stock to extreme. South Bend has a reputation for quality and customer service, two things that we require before we will consider offering a product to our customers.

HISTORY OF SOUTH BEND CLUTCH

South Bend Clutch was created By Harold Palmer in 1967, and from that day forward has continued to provide customers with quality and service they have come to expect for over 30 years. South Bend has revolutionized the clutch industry with its expansion into the field of cryogenics. The material being treated is exposed to extremely cold temperatures in a controlled atmosphere to basically align the molecules of the metal to eliminate stress points and make the metal stronger and more durable than ever. You won't see this process with any other clutch out there. South Bend offers clutches for the guys that are looking for a good stock replacement to the guys that are looking for a clutch for their sled pull or drag race truck.

SOUTH BEND CLUTCH OPTIONS

As you browse clutch kit options for your specific diesel truck, you may notice there are at least a few different options to choose from depending on your particular truck, so how do you choose which one is right for you? First and foremost, most clutches have a horsepower rating and that doesn’t necessarily mean that the clutch with the highest power rating is best for your truck. Instead, that clutch is best used in a truck within a close proximity to that stated power range. Next, what do you use your truck for? Do you commute to work with it every day and pull a camp trailer or boat on the weekends? Is it a dedicated sled pull truck that’s never driven on the street? Or maybe its somewhere in between. The next question would be, how much power does your truck have? This question isn’t how much power do you want your truck to have one day, but how much does it have now, or in the very immediate future. Again, you don’t want to “overclutch” an engine, otherwise, it will be nearly impossible to drive or tow with.

SINGLE DISC VS. DUAL DISC

Based on your above answers will determine what is the right clutch for you, and we will sum that up next. If your truck is in excess of 450 rear wheel horsepower and you regularly tow 15,000 pounds or more, you need a dual disc clutch that is intended for the street, such as one having a diaphragm style pressure plate. While there are single disc options with metallic style facings that will easily support this power level, the clutch will be very “grabby” when trying to tow, and worse yet when backing up a trailer, feathering the clutch. Probably the only caveat to this would be with the G56 6 speed found in 2005.5-2018 Rams. From the factory, these trucks have what is known as a dual mass flywheel, as opposed to a traditional solid one piece flywheel. Unfortunately, the factory clutch has a very high failure rate and these trucks tend to have the best street manners with a dual disc clutch, even at power levels below 450 horsepower.

CLUTCH DISC FACING OPTIONS

Most of South Bend Clutch’s offerings also have several options for the material on the face of the clutch disc, ranging from an organic compound, to Kevlar, Ceramic, and Feramic, and sometimes even a combination of these on the same clutch. Okay, so how do you break these down into what will work best? Organic material is essentially the same type of material used on the factory clutch or what you would find at your local parts store as a direct replacement. Not to say that the South Bend version isn’t superior to these, but just the facing is similar. The benefits of an organic facing is how it reacts to normal daily driving and towing as it allows for slippage without being jerky as other materials can be. Using the above G56 example, one of our most popular options is a Dual Disc with organic facings as it can hold a considerable amount of power, but still has great street and towing manners. The next most popular facing is ceramic. Ceramic facings have been used for years in the clutch industry due to the fact that they are capable of holding considerably more power compared to organic without slipping. Before the days of dual and triple disc clutches, many trucks in the 650 RWHP range were sporting single disc ceramic clutches with success. For those daily driving and towing a considerable amount with their truck, we tend to steer people away from a ceramic, though, because a ceramic facing has a higher tendency to want to “grab and go” compared to other options. This is great, again, for holding power, but when you’re shifting gears or anytime you’re trying to control the truck from surging at take off or backing up, the momentum will transfer much faster and can be excessively jerky for some.

Next up is the facing that arguably put South Bend on the map, Feramic. For those that have been around the diesel industry a while, you may have heard of folks running a “South Bend Con-OFE” as it was probably the most popular clutch throughout the 1990’s and early 2000’s at least. The “OFE” was an organic-feramic clutch, combining the two surfaces. To keep it simple, “Feramic” is an iron based (for those that like to geek out on this stuff, notice the “FE” like you’d see on the periodic table) that can handle a good amount of power, typically averaging 550 RWHP, and deliver better street manners in comparison to a full ceramic. When paired with an organic facing, making it a true “OFE” you’ll have the best of both worlds in a single disc, but the power rating will drop.

And the final option is Kevlar, yep, just like in a bulletproof vest. Just as when used in other applications, the Kevlar facing is added to deliver added strength and durability typically to an organic facing. Kevlar provides the pulling capabilities of ceramic, but adds a layer of enhanced pedal engagement performance.

For a concise overview of the different types of clutch disc facings utilized by South Bend, here's a breakdown and even used in their part numbers for identification:

  • O - Using 2 Performance Organic Facings
  • OHD - Using 2 Extra Wide Performance Organic Facings
  • OFE - Using 1 Performance Organic & 1 Feramic Facing 
  • FE - Using 2 Feramic Facings

HEAVY DUTY HYDRAULICS

South Bend offers replacement hydraulic assemblies for nearly every manual transmission clutch kit. But the question is why would you need to replace the hydraulics? The first, and most obvious, is that the factory cylinder is leaking, not able to build pressure in order to engage the clutch. Beyond the obvious, the replacements from South Bend are inevitably stronger than the factory unit, so for those with a heavier plate load on the clutch pressure plate, installing heavy duty hydraulics will make the clutch pedal easier to push. Finally, the case where the majority of our customers replace the hydraulics would be on Rams equipped with a G56 manual transmission, found on the 2005.5-2018 model years. The factory clutch on these trucks is whats called a dual mass flywheel. Nearly all aftermarket replacement clutches for this truck, including all South Bend, converts this clutch to a single piece flywheel. In doing so, the physical depth of the clutch when measured from front to back is not the same as the original clutch. When this happens, the “throw” of the hydraulic rod must be altered, which is not possible with the factory hydraulics. The South Bend Heavy Duty Hydraulics does feature an adjustable rod so you’re able to adjust to gain the proper throw of the clutch, delivering accurate engagement and disengagement.

Now that you’re fully versed in clutch technology, if you’re still wondering what is the right South Bend Clutch for you, don’t hesitate to give us a call, send an e-mail, or hop on a live chat to discuss your truck and the options we’d most recommend.

Videos

We get a lot of calls and e-mails each day with various product, vehicle, and installation questions. Some are completely off the wall and can even catch us off guard at times, but many others are fairly routine, so we thought we'd post some of the most popular questions that can hopefully be a good resource for you.

Q: What's the difference between all of the clutch disc facing materials? I'm seeing Organic, Ceramic, Feramic, and Kevlar, which one is right for me?
A: There are numerous options when it comes to choosing which clutch is right for you and your truck. Unlike an automatic transmission, you don't want to "over clutch" your truck, which means that if you have a stock engine and frequently tow 20,000 pounds, you wouldn't want a clutch rated for 850 horsepower as it will be nearly impossible to drive due to how grabby it is. For nearly any instance in transmission type, horsepower level, and vehicle use, South Bend builds a clutch to suit your needs. In general, Organic is the most forgiving with easy engagement, but it will not take a ton of abuse. Kevlar and Feramic are somewhat similar in terms of how they "grab," both allowing for a moderate amount of intended clutch slippage, but capable of holding an impressive amount of power. Finally, Ceramic is the "grab and go" choice for those wanting a very positive engagement.

Q: I have an NV4500 five speed and ordered a clutch kit, but the shaft isn't the correct size, why is it different?
A: From the factory, the NV4500 featured a 1-1/4" input shaft. The later model NV5600 six speeds (with exception to some of the early model NV5600's) had a 1-3/8" shaft. Its common and good practice to upgrade the shaft size to the later 1-3/8" for added durability. South Bend offers clutch kits in both versions, but if you're unsure of exatly what is currently in your truck, you may want to take the time and measure the current shaft to avoid an issue where you may order a true "stock replacement" designed for a 1-1/4" shaft, only to find out your transmission has already been upgraded to the 1-3/8" shaft.

Q: I see a note on the replacement hydraulics for the 2003-2018 Cummins, and it states that for the G56 trucks, they can only be used with an OEM clutch. Why is that?
A: The OEM clutch found on the 2005.5-2018 model years is a dual mass flywheel and most aftermarket clutches convert so a solid flywheel. In doing so, the physical depth of the clutch changes, which mean that the total "throw" of the clutch changes, as well. The South Bend hydraulics, while adjustable, cannot adjust far enough to compensate for the depth of dual mass flywheel. Because of this, it can cause damage to an OEM style clutch.

Q: I purchased and installed a dual disc clutch for the G56 equipped Cummins and it now makes a terrible noise when the truck is sitting stationary idling in neutral, but the sound goes away when I depress the pedal. What is this and how do I fix it?
A: The noise is a result of the vibration your engine creates, being transferred into your transmission. When you depress the clutch pedal, it disconnects the engine from the transmission. Due to the fact that the original clutch assembly used a dual mass flywheel to dampen that vibration, there was no noise. The extra power that it takes to slip a factory clutch, is also what over-torques the flywheel, resulting in a system failure. In order for a South Bend Clutch to handle increased horsepower and torque, a solid flywheel must be used. Considerable effort has been made to dampen as much of the vibration as possible, while still maintaining the integrity and longevity of the clutch. And to further exacerbate the issue, the G56's have an aluminum casing, instead of iron, which simply transfers more sound. In terms of what you can do about it, there are a few tricks. The first is to overfill the transmission's oil by about one quart. In order to do this, you'll need to remove the shift boot and access cover from inside of the vehicle. Once the gears are exposed, add enough oil to cover the top of the gear. The next trick would be the weight of oil used. The factory recommends ATF+4 which we aren't necessarily going to tell you to differ from, but there are better options we've found, such as Hot Shot's Secret Blue Diamond, Mobil Delvac 50, Gorilla Juice, and others.

Q: Why do I hear noise and feel a vibration when I lug the engine?
A: When the wheel speed of your vehicle does not coincide with the proper gear in your transmission, the RPM of the engine drops too low and causes a shaking of the engine and drivetrain. Imagine what would happen to an automatic transmission if it wouldn't shift out of fifth gear, and you drove around town that way...it wouldn't last long. Downshifting into the proper gear and keeping the RPM of the engine up is important to assure you get the most out of your engine, clutch and drivetrain.

If you've got a question about upgrading your vehicle with a South Bend Clutch, feel free to give us a call at 888-99-DIESEL and we would be happy to assist.

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