[6D6GOAT]

What a nightmare. I ordered their hydraulic clutch throw out bearing kit for my pontiac. (its a T-56 but uses all the original stock clutch asembly. stock bellhousing, clutch,flywheel, mechanical linkage etc..)

The kit was some 450 bucks and included the throwout bearing and a willwood master kit (that you can buy for 66.00) anyways, it was WAAAY off. for it to work i would have to put a 7/8th of an inch spacer inbetween the bellhousing and motor. So i called summit (THEY ROCK !) and they called McLeod with me on the line and they told me i need a different TO bearing, that i cant use the universal floating bearing and i need the muncie TO bearing the actually mounts to the fron of the tranny.....but this one is 678.00 for just the bearing. Summit overnighted it too me and trusted me to return the old one. I get the new 678.00 bearing and its still too big by 1/4 of an inch. For 678 bucks that thing should just about fall into place. The Mcleod instructions say that it may be necessary to shim the tranny back to make it work... pffft. if im going to have to re-engineer a hyd throwout bearing its going to be one off of a Camaro or Toyota for 100 bucks not a McLeod throwout bearing for 678.00.....im done with them.

Sorry, i had to vent.

PS.. Bernie (from McLeod)...im still waiting for you to call me back.

[68addict]

I thought it was me, But my clucth from them lasted only 600 miles and I was easy on it!!!! Cause it was mated to a brand new engine and trans...hmmmm

[tom s]

WOW!I have installed 2 of them,one with a ST-10 and one with a Tremic TKO with no prpblems.The TKO used a complete package from McLeod,bellhousing,clutch.bearing M/C and was easy to do.Tom

[speedshopmike]

is it an oem or an aftermarket style t56?
if oem, what application?
lastly, why not just use the oem mechanical clutch linkage? - it works fine and it's free for you.

[6D6GOAT]

i dont know Tom....(PS, thanks for your help via PM's earlier)

I checked...double check...triple checked...checked my measurements again....and then check them a couple more times. Because its a new clutch I checked to see if the new clutch (CF dual friction) was different then my old clutch...which it wasnt.

Oh well, the bottom line is neither of them fit and no one from the McLeod tech line ever returned my call. I bought one on Ebay for a fraction of the cost. Its alot easier for me to take the time to make a 125 dollar TO bearing work than make a 678.00 TO bearing that is engineered and designed for a muncie to work

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/NEW-H...ayphotohosting

live and learn I guess

[6D6GOAT]

Originally Posted by speedshopmike

is it an oem or an aftermarket style t56?
if oem, what application?
lastly, why not just use the oem mechanical clutch linkage? - it works fine and it's free for you.

It a Dodge Viper tranny that has a custom input shaft and a custom plate that mounts to the muncie bellhousing. here is a link with some pics of the install a couple years back http://forums.maxperformanceinc.com/...eed+conversion


as for why? the old mechanical linkage is just that..old and worn. A softer pedal will be nice........and also, thinking down the road a little bit i would like to run twin turbos and the only chance i have at getting a downpipe through there is if there isnt a mechanical linkage in the way.

[tom s]

I did not find a hyd bearing a softer pedal!Tom

[speedshopmike]

no answer for you on the prethinking regarding turbo DP clearance; you can't get around a big 3" pipe.
as for the soft pedal, a nice clutch like a centerforce has a very streetable pedal; i have (real) bad knees and drive centerfroces in all my cars; they're very easy-going.
also, replacing the oem linkage bits with commonly available aftermarket heim-jointed stuff helps out a fair amount in the cars i've driven.
you could do what i did on my t56 equipped v8 s10 truck, which was a master/slave setup using a large truck bellhousing that had a slave pushing the clutch fork, rather then (imo) a questionable juice TO bearing.
i had an indexing ring built to center in the t56 and it all worked out perfectly.
that setup and a chevy to BOP adapter for the bell and an extended pilot bushing and you're golden.
except for making for a very long bell/tranny combo.

[6D6GOAT]

Well, it turns out i am a freakin idiot and i need to do some apologizing to McLeod.

since i know everything :) after reading the instructions i took a different means of gathering all the measurements to install the hyd TO bearings and as a result of my measurments neither of the McLeod TO bearing would work, they were simply to thick.

Well i received my cheapy hyd throwout bearing of ebay and low and behold it was too thick also. Thats when i realized that maybe..just maybe i may be to blame.

Originally i measured from the bell housing mating surface on the motor to the face of the flywheel...then laid my pressure plate face down on the ground and measured from the ground up to the fingers and added that to the motor to flywheel total. then i took the bellhousing with the bearing retainer centered...slid the TO bearing on..laid a straight edge across the bellhousing and measured down from it...only to find out that the throw out bearing was sticking up too high on all occasions. so i started to back track and figured out that you cant take the measurement of the pressure plate when it is off of the flywheel because the fingers move (quite a bit) when bolted down to the flywheel. So i basically followed the instructions and what do you know...

2 of the 3 hyd bearings do fit and i am an idiot and a little bit embarrassed that i lashed out so prematurely at McLeod...In my defense however..only 1 of the 2 McLeod throw out bearing would work :) (the 678.00 one will work and will the 'cheapy" one i got on ebay. The universal McLeod will work if you turn the bearing retainer down about 3/16th of an inch)


Anyhow..my apologizes to McLeod

PS..Bernie (from McLeod)..you dont have to return my call :)

[Pontirag]

Mcturd suxz. I'm told they have been bought out. I guess the implication being that things will improve. But it sounds like same old business or perhaps thier just clearing out the old stock to make way for new stock. or thier just trying to pay of the debt from the leveraged buy out. Why not just fire a few people starting with your engineers and QC staff. It wont have an effect on the quality of ther're parts. If they just reverse engineer the competitions products they'l still be better off than peddleing that crap they pushing now.

[Pontirag]

6d6goat dont feel embarassed that you lashed out at them. I got screwed bigtime and got laughed at and ignored after spending like almost 450 bucks on thier scrap. Took it in the shorts without grease. Lash out, lash out!! Now I get the silent treatment from a friend over this so lash out!