DMM

I purchased the RXT clutch and steel flywheel through the group buy on this forum a while ago, although it was not installed until the trans went out. I now have about 600 miles on this unit and feel pretty confident that I am able to give a fair and honest review, summarizing the last few months and 600 miles of use.

In short, this is the worst damn thing I have ever wasted money on...period. It chattered from day one, which only got worse when hot. The clutch has horrible pedal feel and works in a simple on/off fashion, which either nearly stalls the engine or breaks the tires loose at every take off. After pulling the trans three times to adjust the pressure plate torque and slave shim's, I gave up and "Just drove it" as advised since every thing was correct. The pedal came up a bit more, although still abnormally heavy and devoid of any real feel what so ever. It feels more like a leg press than a clutch pedal.

After removing the trans one last time, I was amazed at what I found. The brand new McLoed steel flywheel looks as if it has seen metal to metal contact, with both sides of the floater disk the exact same. The grooves are too deep to be machined, and match the friction material. Somehow, the pressure plate has no scars at all, and looks brand new.

To this point, I have wasted $1200 and countless hours pulling the trans to re-torque and re-shim (after waiting to get the shims) the pressure plate and slave to no avail. After finding this, there is no chance I will ever get rid of the chatter.

The McLeod has a good reputation, so here's the pics:
Flywheel:



Flywheel Friction Disk:



Pressure Plate Friction Disk:



Floater Disk:



Close Up of Floater:

Nmbr1GMfan

iTrader: (1)

How did it shift?

GiggleJuiced_SS

iTrader: (31)

i have one in mine, absolutely love it with my tick mc.

DMM

It shifts fine. I have not gotten above 3k RPM, but there seems to be no problems with the clutch disengaging. The problems I have are pedal feel, engagement (severe chatter), and now the severe wear on the flywheel and both sides of the floater plate.

I am even more puzzled that the flywheel and floater appear to have metal/metal wear, however the pressure plate is brand new. I am simply at a loss here.

I spoke with McLeod about this a while back and there's nothing wrong with the setup. I tore it back apart b/c it's been getting worse and worse as time has gone on...now everything is trashed with less than 600 easy miles on it.

studderin

iTrader: (28)

what did McLeod say about the way it is now? You said its "trashed" is it slipping or something? Not sure how the pedal is stiff to you, thats not normal, always had them feel way easy, stock like. This is in your CTSV, how much dose that thing weight? whats other clutches have you had in the car and how many miles did you get out of them? (you driving)

I'm not a clutch expert but looks like it has some miles and making full contact, but never got any of the metallic disc martial on the plate sides. Or that hasn't happend yet. But weird to see it has no heat in it, but I'm used to looking at track raced setups.
The plate surface looks rough, but its hard to take a pic of that. Is it smooth, or will it tear up a cloth if you rub it on the plate? Almost like somehow a really hard material (dust?) got on the the discs, or between them on install. Something like sand, glass, carbide, dust. Like it was dirty, on install maybe. How dose the top disc look? How thick are they, I think they are about .320 new. are they wearing both the same, and parallel .

BALLSS

DMN

are you using stock MC or did a larger bore one come with the McLeod?

FWIW I have their Street Twin, had a vibration after install in the pedal. 500 mi later pulled clutch (RMS leak) and sent pics to McLeod of FW, floater & PP wear was only on 1/2 of those surfaces.

They rebuilt my clutch in 1 hr when I dropped it off. said FW was .004 not flat. resurfaced FW and replaced discs & floater.

You have ceramic puc which is more aggressive that organic disc but I don't think the scoring you have is "normal" wear.

studderin

iTrader: (28)

RXT is ceramic? never seen that?

BALLSS

yes, RXT has ceramic puc discs

http://www.mcleodracing.com/products/RXT+Twin+Disc.mcl

the "RST" has organic discs

http://www.mcleodracing.com/products/RST+Twin+Disc.mcl

studderin

iTrader: (28)

oh dang. always thought it was metallic

DMM

Thanks for the input everyone. I have had it apart adjusting pressure plate torque three times now. I started with 35 lbs and had a very low pedal (almost no miles on it, just up/down the driveway). The second time I measured where the fingers stopped pulling in (as directed in the instructions) which happened at 28 Ft Lbs. Note the instructions state to torque the pressure plate until the fingers stop pulling in, which is stated to be 35 Ft Lbs in the instructions. It still didn't feel right even though the pedal came up a bit. Finally settled on 32 Ft lbs for the pressure plate the third time after speaking with tech assistance.

This all happened with less than 75 miles on the clutch. At that point, everything looked as it should, nothing abnormal. It just chattered like hell and the pedal felt numb.

I am using stock master and a new OE slave cylinder. The RXT was installed with a Rockland Gear "Tranzilla" T56 Magnum, which specifically requires the slave to be shimmed to min. .160" (I'm at .163" now).

I have a complete shop with a lift, and there has never been any contamination on any of the surfaces (dust, fluid, etc). Everything was installed this spring and I have rarely had the chance to drive it between the tags being suspended for emissions and me being out of the country on five separate trips. The majority of the driving was done re-tuning after re-installing the MAF to pass emissions.

The pics are somewhat ambiguous, however the surfaces are very rough...as in it would tear a paper towel if rubbed against it. If you look closely, the frictions pucs are very rough as well with the only wear being the grooves that correspond to their respective mating surfaces. If you have seen what brake rotors look like after going metal to metal, that's what I have on the flywheel and both sides of the floater plate (with the flywheel being worse).

There has never been any problems with the clutch disengaging or shifting through the gears. My problems have centered around excessively poor pedal feel and effort, and chatter on take off that gets worse when hot...to the point of being violent. If you've ever experienced bad wheel hop, that's what it feels like. The only time it does not chatter is when it abruptly engages. I have never been able to modulate the engagement, the clutch has pretty much always done whatever it wanted to and I have just been along for the ride.

I finally had enough and pulled it apart once again and this is what I found. I may try to get ahold of McLeod tech assistance again, however I leave tomorrow and won't be back until after the New Year.


Since it's been asked, I had an LS7 clutch/slave with lightweight aluminum flywheel and never had a problem with that combo. I went with a steel McLeod flywheel with the RXT, and had to get an OE style slave with the custom trans.

Frans96SS

iTrader: (15)

Thats odd.. I have never had a problem with them at all... Almost looks as if the discs were in backwards or in the wrong spots.

DMM

I know the first thing is to blame user error, however that is not the case here. It's possible the disks were mislabeled at the factory, but I don't think that would explain how the steel flywheel and floater disk got chewed up. The factory labels are still there, both the stickers and the hand written marker.

I have been trying to get through to tech assistance to no avail.

jmm98LS1

iTrader: (28)

Man that sucks....hopefully mcleod will step up and offer to help. Maybe something is off with the pressure plate. I know I've been thrilled with mine. Pulled it to inspect after about 1000 street miles and 25+ mid 10 sec passes with 7k rpm launches. Showed a small amount of heat but virtually no visual wear. Drives like a stock clutch. Hope you get it sorted out.

DMM

So, I spoke with McLeod tech assistance once again on the way to the airport. I spoke with "Billy", and advised him of how I have it installed and the problems I have had from day one...the poor pedal feel, chatter, and wear, and was told it is all perfectly normal. He said the RXT will cause this type of wear as it breaks in. He went on to say it would help to have the flywheel cut with a stone vice a lathe to give it a better surface to bite into. I asked about what would be the next course of action, and he stated that sending it in for them to look at would be the next step. He added a rebuild would cost about $540ish. He repeated it needs to be driven in stop and go driving with about 1000-1500 clutch cycles. This is nearly impossible at this point, the chatter is so bad I'm scared it'll crack the glass in the car.

So, this is where I'm at...having a rage stroke on the way to the airport after being told everything is normal and I may have to send them more money for something that has never worked correctly from day one.

Randolph Ziskey

iTrader: (13)

"He repeated it needs to be driven in stop and go driving with about 1000-1500 clutch cycles. This is nearly impossible at this point, the chatter is so bad I'm scared it'll crack the glass in the car. "

Wow the chatter is that bad? Sorry bro.

BALLSS

so Billy says this 'wear" is normal on a ceramic puc disc/floater during break-in.

Ceramic puc disc clutches are prone to chatter until engagement technique is adjusted. Still a fine line but many report they have managed smooth engagements with those types of discs. When I had them I was able to have smooth engagement "most" of the time

I can say when McLeod did rebuild my twin after 500 mi (diffrent issue than OP's) they did re-surface the FW with a stone as it was not all "shiney" like new. It was a rougher finish BUT it was night & day diffrence on engagement as I did have some chatter (not bad though) during my "break in" period and with the FW resurface, new discs & floater, it was smooth as silk during the new break in and has remained that way

WTF Op's pedal feel is hard though is weird. Typically a larger MC will result in a stiffer pedal which was the case with my twin going from 3/4 to 13/16 MC...but not really anything that was hard and now it just feels "normal"

Fosnot

iTrader: (15)

With my experience (cam/unported 706 heads/3.73 gears) beating it as hard as I can I love it. Drives smooth, occasionally if I let the clutch out without the right throttle its kind of grabby and shakes a bit, but more gas or slower engagement fixes this quickly.

I have mine installed on a used (resurfaced) centerforce billet steel flywheel, Tick Adj. master and I replaced the slave with an Advance's OEM series "Perfection" brand(which I was very pleased with its quality as well).

I can say I am very pleased with the clutch, it just about every aspect of it.

FWIW

NATHANIALPOPE

iTrader: (2)

I just put the rxt in my car and its been great over the monster lvl 2(i can shift into 4th now). But in the directions says to put 500 miles on it then have at it.

GiggleJuiced_SS

iTrader: (31)

PRE-Z06

How much power are you making? I cut a 1.4 60' and went 10s in my H/C vette with the Level 2. I'm confused at why you would be comparing it to a clutch that costs twice as much and holds almost twice as much power???