Clutch Fire (1 Day After Recall) Burns 2018 JLU to the Ground

[Mtpisgah]

Please keep us informed of how it goes, the wife gave me the go a head to get new clutch, scary with kids in the back. another guy said CF only comes in the II and DF for the JL, is that correct? I was looking at the CF1...

I thought the CF-1 was available, but should know for sure by Monday.

 

[Redrockjk]

I’m now convinced that the way these are failing we are going to be seeing many more of these type of events. This looks like heat related metal failure of the flywheel. Even under normal conditions clutch friction generates heat. Given enough of these heat cycles metal is going to fatigue and even crack. A properly designed part will be designed to not self destruct when this fatigue occurs. (I haven’t seen a flywheel or pressure plate yet that hasn’t shown signs of the effect of heat). It could be a manufacturing defect but given the numbers we’re seeing and the range of manufacturing years in which these failures are occurring it’s looking more like a design failure than a manufacturing failure.
No part of the clutch, be it the flywheel, pressure plate or friction disc should be self destructing due to heat stress. Especially not on a “Trail Rated” vehicle like a Jeep. If anything this clutch should be designed to take even more abuse than most other vehicles.

The pressure plate comes apart due to clutch slip/overheating aka not normal wear and tear. Air in the system is the cause for clutch slip plain and simple. These systems are very hard to bleed all the air from the system

 

[Redrockjk]

FYI everyone i have a Hemi power Gladiator local to me running stock trans, clutch and pressure plate on 37in tires

 

[Cutterone]

The difference is the holding and torque capacity, for a stock JL or even lightly modded I’d go with a II but I’m sure either is fine regardless of the mods. I am heavily modified (40’s, gears, axle) but still went with the II.

the clutch feels great almost like stock now that it’s broken in, at first it was a little stiff now it’s maybe 15 percent more than stock but you can feel when it engages.

Well I don't see the CF 1 on their website or extreme terrain either, just the 2. I just want to make sure I'm not overdoing it and if feels like I'm driving the tractors I grew up on just driving to work!

 

[Cutterone]

I thought the CF-1 was available, but should know for sure by Monday.

ok thanks, please keep us in the loop following intently

 

[Cutterone]

They do know the issue...the issue was the inlet hose from the res to the clutch master rubs on something causing air to get into the system.....AIr in the system causing the hydraulics to malfunction aka not disengaging/slipping the clutch and overheating the pressure plate to over heat and come apart. I can tell you from lots of experience with this recall the hyd system is extremely hard to bleed due to design. The clutch health test was done to determine if the clutch has slipped previously

So you are saying with a fair amount of certainty that it isn't the clutch mechanism or metallurgy, but a hydraulics issue? So are we going overboard replacing our clutches? The girl that started this post whos Jeep exploded, had just had the recalls done the day before, so perhaps they didnt bleed it properly leading to catastrophic failure? Sorry to be so inquisitive but my kids safety is priority #1, 2,3..etc...

 

[OBJLU]

Well I don't see the CF 1 on their website or extreme terrain either, just the 2. I just want to make sure I'm not overdoing it and if feels like I'm driving the tractors I grew up on just driving to work!

Ah no way, the II is very close to stock after you have driven it for a bit, it was pretty stiff for the first 100 miles then softened up nicely. Having reserve capacity is always a good thing so even if the I was available I’d still go with II.
What really makes Centerforce superior to other solutions is the heavier flywheel. It feels like I picked up a lot of torque down low and I’m sure it will crawl amazing. I was considering regearing to 5.38 from 5.13 but I won’t need it now.

 

[Redrockjk]

So you are saying with a fair amount of certainty that it isn't the clutch mechanism or metallurgy, but a hydraulics issue? So are we going overboard replacing our clutches? The girl that started this post whos Jeep exploded, had just had the recalls done the day before, so perhaps they didnt bleed it properly leading to catastrophic failure? Sorry to be so inquisitive but my kids safety is priority #1, 2,3..etc...

Yes thats the reason for the recall.....clutches arent getting replaced unless they are damaged by what the recalls cover......theres 100,000 plus manual trans JTs and JLs on the road. A very very small percentage have issues

 

[krweatherl]

The pressure plate comes apart due to clutch slip/overheating aka not normal wear and tear. Air in the system is the cause for clutch slip plain and simple. These systems are very hard to bleed all the air from the system

Look at the photos of the pressure plate, it’s still intact with a couple of the broken ears from the flywheel still attached. The problems with the hydraulic system are most likely leading to excess heat. Prolonged excess heat will lead to clutch failure. It’s the numerous examples clutches self destructing instead of simply failing that has us questioning whether there’s a design flaw.

 

[Rico1111]

Exactly! Clutch failure is one thing, Catastrophic self destruction is another! Taking out the whole transmission/Bell housing and god forbid the thin floor board of the rig.

 

[Cutterone]

So what I take away is that if our hydraulic system is intact, has been moved away from heat sources, and bled properly, then the clutch itself should be fine... IDK I already got the a ok for a new clutch so might just do it to feel safe and sound. The CF II looks like it can handle almost 200 ft/lbs more than our 3.6 puts out so overkill but so be stout and last the life of the Jeep I'll assume...

 

[Rico1111]

When the funds are available I am going with the CF...Peace of mind!

 

[58Willys]

Jess just received this photo from Clay (the alert motorist most likely saved her life). Just seconds after leaving the Jeep, here she’s still loading her dogs into the bed of his truck, he took this photo.
What I find interesting is that the center of the median is already on fire about 2-3 hundred yards behind her Jeep but there’s no grass Fire next her jeep yet. This is probably where we’d find pieces of her flywheel and/or the friction disc. She said that’s about where he started trying to get her attention.

Lucky she and the dogs got out of that blaze. Yes, I’m sure there’s lots of evidence in burned median.

 

[krweatherl]

They do know the issue...the issue was the inlet hose from the res to the clutch master rubs on something causing air to get into the system.....AIr in the system causing the hydraulics to malfunction aka not disengaging/slipping the clutch and overheating the pressure plate to over heat and come apart. I can tell you from lots of experience with this recall the hyd system is extremely hard to bleed due to design

Yes its obvious FCA/Stellantis is very aware of this issue, so far they’ve issued 2 recalls, the first attempting to address the hydraulic system, even replacing some clutches and when this didn’t resolve the issues they implemented a software solution. (Which didn’t help in this example). And yet, even though they’ve shown that they’re aware of the issue we still have many many examples of repair claims being denied after owners vehicles have suffered extensive damage due to catastrophic failure of the clutch’s, failure that’s being caused by the very issues they are very aware of. Just what do you suppose their response will be in the case we’re discussing here?

 

[Cutterone]

Yes its obvious FCA/Stellantis is very aware of this issue, so far they’ve issued 2 recalls, the first attempting to address the hydraulic system, even replacing some clutches and when this didn’t resolve the issues they implemented a software solution. (Which didn’t help in this example). And yet, even though they’ve shown that they’re aware of the issue we still have many many examples of repair claims being denied after owners vehicles have suffered extensive damage due to catastrophic failure of the clutch’s, failure that’s being caused by the very issues they are very aware of. Just what do you suppose their response will be in the case we’re discussing here?

Idk but probably silence, not sure where critical mass is reached in cases such as these. How many more need to happen? But I don’t see them ever replacing 100,000 clutches either. So I think if I’m gonna run my Jeep for the next 10 years or more as planned, get the CF 2 so I’m not worrying about it all the time. I’d trade up to say a Willy’s XR auto turbo but don’t think the misses will agree to that!

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