Valeo clutches

ghunt81

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Anyone used them? I know they are a popular OEM brand.

Going to be doing my clutch and slave cylinder/throwout bearing over the winter since my current TOB is making a bunch of noise.

I've been looking at various brands of clutches- I noticed Valeo sells a "Stage 1" kit for a very reasonable price that says it's good for something like 500 ft-lbs, and includes the slave cylinder/TOB. Can anyone vouch for the quality of this kit?

Also, concerned about the slave cylinder. I noticed both the Exedy and McCleod units have some bad reviews on AM where people said they went out in a short time, and that is not something I want to have to deal with. Is it kind of a crap shoot or are there certain brands to use or avoid? Centerline's slave cylinder seems to have good reviews. I'm wondering how good the Valeo unit is.

One other thing, is it standard practice to replace the pilot bearing during a clutch job?
 

Badd GT

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Yes on the pilot bearing replacement, I’ve had good experiences with the Exedy 400 and 600 clutches and slave cylinders, can’t speak to the Valeo. Be careful with AM reviews, they lump them together sometimes from lots of different people who bought different things and try to make it sound like they are all talking about the same item
 

ghunt81

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I had read that Valeo was one of the primary suppliers for clutches for the OEM's, I'm just surprised they're so cheap. Like I found a Valeo "Stage 1" clutch kit that comes with slave cylinder for $244 on ebay.
 

ghunt81

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So nobody has any input on the slave cylinders? Just wondering if I'll be alright to use one of these replacement Valeos or if I should look at a different one.
 

Juice

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I put in a Dorman slave over 20000 miles on it now with zero issues.
Yes, Valeo is a major parts manufacturer. I believe my centerforce clutch has Valeo on it.
 

drive_55_not

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I had read that Valeo was one of the primary suppliers for clutches for the OEM's, I'm just surprised they're so cheap. Like I found a Valeo "Stage 1" clutch kit that comes with slave cylinder for $244 on ebay.


I'm not sure which kit you're looking at on FeeBay but doing a quick look I'd hazard a guess the one's including a FW for $244 are cheap Chinese knockoff's.

As for the slave, From personal experience the #1 cause of a slave failure is not enough preload ... that will cause the slave to over extend and blow out the seals.

I installed an Exedy clutch with their CSC and needed to use a shim under the slave to get the correct preload.


.
 

fdjizm

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So nobody has any input on the slave cylinders? Just wondering if I'll be alright to use one of these replacement Valeos or if I should look at a different one.
FTE makes the slave cylinders for ford, luk, FTE, exedy etc are all from the same maker with logos machined off.
 

ghunt81

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As for the slave, From personal experience the #1 cause of a slave failure is not enough preload ... that will cause the slave to over extend and blow out the seals.

I installed an Exedy clutch with their CSC and needed to use a shim under the slave to get the correct preload.

So how do you figure out whether or not it needs a shim, and where do you get said shims?
 

fdjizm

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So how do you figure out whether or not it needs a shim, and where do you get said shims?
The recent clutches I've worked with all came with a shim in the box except exedy which needed a shim (found out the hard way when the slave blew out).

I did get a hint that it needed a shim when it was hard to get into gear from a stop, like a lot of resistance means the clutch is still dragging with the pedal all the way down which means the slave is at the end of it's stroke and doesn't have enough.
Unfortunately just from needing a shim and getting into reverse a few times it ruined my reverse synchro on the T56 magnum. I will fix it one day lol, for now I go to 4th and then reverse.



Centerforce and mcleod come with a shim.
 

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