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Originally Posted by MagicRat
As for truck clutches, its not the weigh of the truck that makes the difference, its the kinetic energy stored in the rotating parts.
Kinetic energy increses by a factor of 4 times, as the speed doubles. A crankshaft spinning at 3000 rpm has 4 times the amount of force acting on the clutch than one spinning at 1500 rpm.
Therefore, a BBC at 5 grand is likely to have more energy to deliver to the clutch than a truck engine at 1500 rpm.
Finally, truck clutches do not grab the way an auto engine clutch does.
In my experience, the engagement is a bit 'softer' and thus more gentle on the parts, regardless of how you dump the clutch. This is because, in part, a truck clutch disk is actually quite small (12" dia on my Cummins 855) relative to the size and torque of the engine.
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I see what you mean about the RPM thing, but I find it hard to believe that weight doesn't make a difference in the stress of the clutch.
My brother has an 02' ram cummins, it has 13'' clutch. I am on some cummins forums and I always here the stock clutches going out on these things when they add mods. My brother(diesel mechanic)says it's because the idiots that drive them always dump the clutch revving it up. You are supposed to let the clutch fully engage giving no throttle, then floor it. His clutch has held fine, and he has a few mods. He took his truck to work on the dyno, 690 ft lbs to the rear wheels.