I have a 1996 Ford F250 powerstroke diesel. The clutch works fine but it has been many miles since it has been changed. Where can I find the clutch pad thickness specs? I would like to do a quick visual inspection.
In order to measure the clutch disk thickness the transmission would have to be removed. Not exactly a quick visual inspection. If the clutch is working properly, don’t worry about it until it shows a sign of a problem. Then you can yank the transmission.
Tester
Haynes manual. For my GMC it is one sixteenth inch above rivet. It took one minute to find the info.
Clutches usually work fine until the pressure-plate or flywheel actually TOUCH the rivets. Then they slowly begin to slip as the rivets don’t provide much friction…
If the springs in the pressure plate get overheated and lose tension, they won’t be able to hold a good thick clutch plate in place. So having sufficient material on the clutch plate is a necessary-but-not-sufficient condition to a good working clutch.
I would agree with Tester that this is not something you should worry about until it begins to slip. Typically that’ll show up first in high gear on the highway when you put it under a lot of load, like hauling a heavy trailer up a hill or passing without downshifting. At that point you’ll want to change out the entire assembly including the pressure plate and the release bearing.
I got 295,000 miles out of a clutch. You might too.