Cumberland area? I'm from Western Maryland myself. Well I grew up in Western Maryland. Washington County.
Yes sir. You know full well the ups and downs on I-68.
Mine did ok with 4.10. Going through the Rockies on the interstate or in a headwind, I was in 5th gear 95% of the time and that tipped me to wanting a re-gear. Now with 4.56, I'm at about 2475rpm at 75 in 6th and I love it. I can pull hills with it or pass with it but it and gas mileage is about the same. In all around driving it might be slightly better. Anyway, I'd say in the mountains with 35's you'd love the 4.56 gears. It really is the sweet spot for 35's and I wouldn't want it any shorter. If you ever plan to go to 37's then 4.88 would be perfect. I won't do that, so I'm really happy with 4.56. Super happy with it. It also didn't make 1st gear too short. I was worried about that. And it helped reverse, which was too tall before.
Well, Sparty, I have now called every South Bend dealer in Middle TN. Two of them have dropped their dealer relationship with SB and two said they don't see anything noting their clutches compatible with the Gladiator. That was enough for me to decide to focus on the Centerforce.I did consider south bend but all I saw was another dual clutch /dual mass flywheel (complicated) clutch and I was looking to go to heavier flywheel, a gripper clutch to simplify and improve offroad and towing. My Centerforce clutch is in and I’m breaking it in now. So far it’s great - it engages lower in the pedal travel and more positive. I can backup without throttle. Once the break in is done I’ll find some time to do the 20degree hill test and offroad test to report back. Here is the stock clutch in a 20degree hill at idle for the before video.
Good luck. I’ll be pushing a new video soon showing initial impressions and part 2 hill test. Spoiler alert - this is how the clutch should be. It has a bit of effort and you can feel the engagement but it’s not tough or unrefined. It’s just better all around.
here's the new video . check it out!
This is what I've been waiting to see. That was a wonderful test and a very well done video.
I appreciate your support. Thanks for watching.
One other question, if I may. You state in your "unboxing" video that the Centerforce flywheel, with packaging, weighs around 44 lbs, if I remember correctly. Do you remember what the OEM flywheel weighed after removal??
I haven’t weighed it yet but I suspect it a fair amount lighter. I haven’t had a chance to unbolt it but I’ll be sure to do this soon a d report.
Yes, lack of a tranny temp gauge on a manual vehicle is typical.
Manuals rarely ever have a transmission temp gauge, for any make, and even on sports cars. You'll get a warning (post recall anyway), and it'll pull torque if you start smoking your clutch, to save itself, but the transmission itself shouldn't overheat on an MT. The clutch shouldn't either under most conditions, unless you're doing some major slipping for some reason. A temp gauge really isn't needed on a manual. We don't usually get transmission coolers either, whereas many automatics do.
