# Need opinions on clutches Borg and beck vs Diaphragm



## reallyrusty (Mar 18, 2001)

My K20 had a 3 lever severe duty borg and beck clutch installed before i bought the truck.
It has been nothing but trouble from odd vibrations to constant adjustment problems. 
It has now cracked the bellhousing (fork throw was so far it pivited on bellhousing and cracked).
I want to replace the flywheel (can't be turned anymore)
the clutch assembly, belhousing and fork.


I want to use a diaphragm pressure plate and i'm afraid i'm
missing something. Is there a good reason this borg and beck was installed in the first place.

anybody have simular experiences

thanks


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## 2401 (Feb 3, 2001)

Rusty - I'm not speaking from experience here, but it sounds like the clutch in your truck has seen a lot of hard service - aka "abuse". Any info on the history before you bought it, and how long have you had it?

The company truck I drive is a '79 Chev C-30 dually, I'm not sure of the exact weight with all the welding gear on board but I'm positive it's a lot heavier than your K-20. No problems with the diaphragm pressure plate in it. I'm guessing that the Borg & Beck severe duty clutch got installed as a beef-up part at some point in the truck's history. Treated (driven) properly, the diaphragm clutch should work OK for you, especially if you will be starting out with all new components as you describe.

If you think you're going to be pounding on your truck pretty hard, you may want to put a severe service clutch back in.


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## reallyrusty (Mar 18, 2001)

The truck saw service at a local sheet metal shop for 
many years as utility truck (duraliner was sliced to shreds)
and plow truck. Then it was sold to a guy who used it doing driveway jobs. He had the clutch installed. It was pretty beat when i bought it 3 years ago. So much that the spring shackles were bent (front) and they had chewed the reverse
idler gear in the transmission (sm465).I went thru the truck when i bought it but left the clutch cause it was new.(my pocket was hurting by then)


From my own experience diaphagm plates have worked well for me in the past but this is the first plow i have owned. It's for personal use only and not for hire. and i'm afraid there is something i might be missing.


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## 2401 (Feb 3, 2001)

Sounds like "abuse" was the main contributing factor here then! Especially if it was a utility truck that everybody & their cousin drove while it was owned by the sheet metal company. If you drive like a "civilized human being" I don't think you should have any problem with the diaphragm clutch - in my opinion, anyway.

1'st ("low") and reverse aren't synchronized on the 4 speed transmission, so I'm guessing reverse got chewed from trying to force it into gear. 99% of the time I'm the only one who drives our C-30 welding truck, the odd time someone else does and I've yelled and cursed at them a few times when I heard the gears grinding away!

Just wondering how much you've had done to the driveline in the way of repair work. If the clutch & spring shackles were as "beat" as you say, I'm wondering about the diffs, transmission & transfer case. The C-30 was tired when my boss bought it, we recently had the clutch & transmission overhauled. Same thing with the reverse idler gear, and they also ended up putting a new mainshaft in it.

Fix it up right, take good care of it & I think you've got a good plow truck there!


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## reallyrusty (Mar 18, 2001)

What i've done so far is
Body:
Cab floor front,supports,rockers
Firewall, Windshield channel,gaskets/seals
new fenders,hood, drivers door, radiator support.
I currently need to do something to the bed.
driveline:
New crankshaft, oil pump and bearings,carb and pump, all new hei parts,radiator, all hoses, heater, transmission,transfercase conversion kit(np203) with seals and chain, rear end axle seals (diff looked pretty good) all u- joints, balljoint, tierod and ends brakes,Springs, shackles,bushings, calipers,lines,(flex and steel) fuel tanks, and Wireing
(After the plow lights burned several times, they just kept running new wires and left the old.)
I plan on keeping it a while and love how it pulls stumps
thanks for you opinion


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