Quote:
Originally Posted by ratsnst1
Okay my bad, I did not now that no matter what fluid you ran it was blowing seals, how many miles did it take to do this or was it from the get go.I have 2500, miles on mine and I drive it very hard, no leaks.
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Usually we only got 200-1000 miles out of them before the seals disintegrated. Hard driving doesn't have anything to do with it as everyone pretty much drives their cars pretty hard--why else would you own a cobra
I must say, I have never heard of a Tilton failure. All of our problems have been with the McLeod units. Also, I must add, I have a McLeod unit in my car that has been in for around 10 years with no problems at all. We isolated (we think) the problem to McLeod units that were made about 5 years ago and younger. The old units didn't seem to have the seal problem. As for what they make today, I really can't say if the seals are good or bad but there is NO WAY I am going to find out (except for checking this board for a poor soul who didn't heed our advise).
After losing thousands and thousands of dollars pulling transmissions out of cars to figure out what the problem was, we gave up and utterly REFUSE to use a McLeod hydraulic throw out bearing, period. (Tilton, is another story and we would use them, but ONLY if we absolutely HAD to.)
But, the internal units make the pedal extremely heavy. Those people who say the internal unit makes for an easier pedal were not using the system we developed. The throw out bearing system we developed is far, far easier to push than any hydraulic unit I have ever dealt with. In fact, it is so much easier that we re-engineered the system to work on the billet chassis car we are making. We originally put a Tilton unit in the billet car because of extreme space constraints, but after driving the car on the track I said that Tilton, bear-trap monster had to GO!
As for fluid, DOT 3 vs. DOT 4, I have no idea--I always thought DOT 4 was DOT 3 compatible as well. Personally, I think McLeod was feeding me a line and they probably had no idea what was going on when they told us to switch from DOT 4 to DOT 3. Like I said, we finally called our buddies at Ford and they directed us to Parker. We talked to a Parker seals engineer and he was the one who told us about sulfur vs. steam cured ethylene-propylene o-rings.
As for using normal hydraulic fluid, we did think about that, but there is a MAJOR problem. NO ONE thinks to put hydraulic fluid in their clutch...they only think to put in brake fluid. Eventually, we would have had a BIG problem. So, we solved the problem by BANNING the McLeod hydraulic unit from the the shop.
Now, I have to say that we still recommend McLeod clutches, flywheels, and pressure plates--but their customer service has gone to crap since my good friend Red Roberts sold the company. It is really sad. I wish they were better.
David
Hybrid Mode
