Any Centerforce clutch problems?

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New Centerforce dual friction in my BB car with approx 200 or so miles on it.
Went to do a little tire haze last night, rev'd her up to approx 2500 let up on the clutch & down on the throttle ( up to 5,000rpm) & did the worst clutch slip with burnt clutch smoke I have ever encountered
Think I have clutch adjusted as good as you can.
The clutch has to be right to the floor to slip it into 1st from dead stop, 1" up & you can feel it hard to get into gear. Approx an 1 1/2" free play when peddle is released. No leaks in rear main & had flywheel turned before installation! I thought these clutchs were supposed to be the cats aass! Paid huge money up here...eh! for the thing & sure not impressed!

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Last edited by senior : Today at 09:36 AM. Reason: typing faster than brain works

I have used a ton of them without any problems.A friend of mine put one in his 67 chevelle conv. 496 4-sp 3.50 gears with 27.5x10" slicks and smoked it immediatly because he didn't break it it at all. Centerforce says 500 miles of stop & go for break-in. I think you just need to adjust & break it in properly and you will like it.

I have 3 of them installed in 3 different cars. NEVER had a problem. Try adjusting it so there is not so much freeplay. You need minimum of .030" clearance between the disk/pressure plate ( clutch pedal applied) or flywheel to ensure disengagement.

Did you follow the instructions for pivot ball placement etc. It does make a difference :-)

Do you have your bellhousing properly indexed ?? If the bellhousing isnt properly indexed this can lead to all kinds of clutch/tranny/shifter problems.Also,just because you have a Center Force clutch doesent necessarily mean a whole lot because they farm out the manufacturing to different clutch manufacturers.
Guy

I've never liked mine either, it doesnt slip at all but when its hot I can barely get it into 1st gear or reverse without grinding. I have adjusted it a hundred times trying to fix it. A friend of mine has the same problem with his. Next time the trans is out the clutch is coming out too.
Ron

We were just talking about the Centerforce in the 66 last night when we left the track. We are starting to whale on the car at the track some and the CF dual friction has had no issues whatsoever. Listen to these guys that are posting as I fought some battles with clutch issues for about a month before I addressed the 2 things that most people don't check. One is the pivot ball height or the throwout bearing position. Number 2 is the bellhousing. You have to make sure it is indexed. If I had to take a stab at what your problem is I would say you clutch fork is not positioned correctly. But everyones situation is different but until I got my distance and ratio right for the clutch fork, our car shifted like #$%^. I also run about a .050 air gap. If you are running a Diaphram pressure plate you need to make sure the fingers do not compress too much as this will give you a boat load of clutch problems also.

HTH,

With a dual friction you cant get .050 airgap, they are designed to have very little airgap so that they engage more quickly, according to the tech guy at Centerforce. I have adjusted mine to get FULL dis-engagement but sinces there is so little air gap it still is hard to get in first gear when I am sitting still after the clutch gets hot.
Ron

Not to make an issue, but unless my feeler guages are wrong, I have .050. I also have all my shifting issues resolved. Anyways, just go back over it and check everything. It seems to be a good clutch for the money in my opinion.

Good luck,

How do you guys check the airgap? Any flex in the disc would give a false reading, no?

Hi Vince.
There should not be any measurable flex in the disc.

Not sure if you have this in your bellhousing but you need some type of an opening to check the distance between the flywheel and disc when the clutch is compressed. I have a small opening on the passenger side of my bellhousing but my housing is a steel SFI unit and it came that way. I ended up using a Mcleod adjustable bearing and the adjustable pivot ball to get it right. I also have an extra input shaft and nose for the bearing that goes up in the transmission so it was alot easier for me to get mine dialed in.

My lakewood has an opening in the bottom, guess I could get a feeler guage in there, but your saying the DF dont have any freeplay?

For the record, my DF completly slipped on me at the track when running 3rd gear out. I'd like to know why.

My lakewood has an opening in the bottom, guess I could get a feeler guage in there, but your saying the DF dont have any freeplay?

For the record, my DF completly slipped on me at the track when running 3rd gear out. I'd like to know why.


Mine did the same thing so I took my trans back out and found that my adjustable ball stud came loose. This added play and a spungy clutch feeling. I re-adjusted the pivot ball and used red lock tight on...problem solved.

Tim, if your piv ball came loose, wouldn't you have noticed a change just driving around? Nothing has changes for me in terms of clutch feel/action.

Tim, if your piv ball came loose, wouldn't you have noticed a change just driving around? Nothing has changes for me in terms of clutch feel/action.

Yes, but it was gradual over several weeks. Once I got everything back together I couldn't believe the difference. For a new clutch to go in a very short period of time is very unusual. Good luck and I hope it something simple like mine was (besides dropping a transmission with the car on the ground ;-)

Well I'm back...for better or worse :cool:
I was so pisssed I parked the car for over a week & didn't even think about it.
Bell is a standard 621 just bolted to a reg 454 block. Never touched the fork ball, it worked just fine before I pulled the engine & replaced clutch with a new one. :cool:
How about a couple of suggestions as to just how to adjust this thing??
Was none in the box, looked like it had been opened a few times when I got it. :cool:

And this is the clutch I had planned on buying for my Tranny change over.......:confused:

And this is the clutch I had planned on buying for my Tranny change over.......:confused:

It may be a good clutch! it might be I don't have it set up correct!
But I also find the spring rate on the peddle a little funky!
It's like two stage spring pressure that changes right about the time the clutch starts to grab. In my opinion it makes it hard to modulate to get under way!

It's kinda like the let-off on a compound hunting bow for any-one thats used them:D

If you had your flywheel machined, what is your new measured flywheel thickness? Centerforce's instructions state that a .950" thick flywheel needs a pivot ball height of 4.750". If your flywheel measures .900", then your pivot ball height needs to be at 4.700".

Here is how we measure a flywheel for proper thickness:

Place your flywheel on a flat and smooth table with the pressure plate surface side down. Measure through one of the crankshaft mounting bolt holes for the proper flywheel thickness.

If you measure a flywheel at the ring gear, it will give you a false reading.

Flywheel was turned one time.
It's in the car?

If you had your flywheel machined, what is your new measured flywheel thickness? Centerforce's instructions state that a .950" thick flywheel needs a pivot ball height of 4.750". If your flywheel measures .900", then your pivot ball height needs to be at 4.700".

Here is how we measure a flywheel for proper thickness:

Place your flywheel on a flat and smooth table with the pressure plate surface side down. Measure through one of the crankshaft mounting bolt holes for the proper flywheel thickness.

If you measure a flywheel at the ring gear, it will give you a false reading.
great info but where do you measure PB height from?

(I'll be installing a CF/DF soon but with a new CF flywheel0

great info but where do you measure PB height from?

(I'll be installing a CF/DF soon but with a new CF flywheel0

The pivot ball height is measured at the engine mating side of the bellhousing to the tip of the pivot ball.

I personally do not like Centerforce Clutch products. We just had another customer with a driveline vibration in a '72 Chevelle. He replaced all the usual things to eliminate the vibration but nothing worked. So, he finally decided to rebuild his M22 and upon doing a clutch inspection, I noticed his weights on his Centerforce clutch were rusted to his diaphragm fingers a bit off-center. The weight ring would not center itself even on a quick RPM throttle blast. He didn't have the money for a new clutch so, I cut the weight ring off and re-installed his transmission and the vibration disappeared. This has been about our 10th Centerforce Clutch vibration issue with the same problem.

This is NOT just my opinion and a bashing but what we see with these clutches from time to time. Also FYI, when the weight ring breaks at high RPMs all those little weights will tear everything up on the inside of the bellhousing and I have seen the weights crack a stock aluminum bellhousing too.

I like my centerforce df, My engine builder told us about the vibration issues at their shop also, guess what, they were all about that weight ring, he said they get rusted or gummed up and stick. they cut them off and it goes away and the clutch still never misses or slips.
JD