ericdwong

...If you've ever blown a gear post here. This is what I want to know-
1) Aftermarket clutch (what kind/stage)?
2) Any type of LSD/torque biasing differential?
3) Aftermarket/or home made motor mounts?
4) Driving habits- do you "rag" on the car either street or strip
5) How many times and what gears have gone?
6) WHEN did it blow the gear? During racing or normal driving?
7) How long/how many miles did it happen at?
8) Any thing else to know for the record. (mods etc)

DO NOT post if you blew the gear by MISSING a shift. DO NOT post if your tranny has blown up because of the differential bearing problem. Only post if you've blown a gear(s). However- after a few people start replying, if you HAVE NOT blown a gear and have a similar setup, then say so.

I'll go first.
1) ACT street HDMM clutch
2) Quaife differetial
3) Home made poly mounts
4) Yes I do drive it hard, its no secret. But NOT every day. It does see the drag strip as well.
5) blew 3rd gear twice. side note- blew 2nd gear but not counted cause I missed the gear.
6) First time- driving up a hill at VERY gentle speeds, second time, coming off a bridge, I was "on it" but nothing out of the ordiary.
7) First time-About 1 year and 12k miles since I had essentially a different tranny put in the car. 2nd time- 2 months and less then 2000 miles after I rebuilt it.
8) Had the guts cryogenically treated before. I guess it made it last longer but it still failed eventually. NO supercharger, NO NOS. Basic intake, Y pipe/B pipe mods.

BriGuyMax

iTrader: (1)

1. ACT Street Clutch
2. Quaife Differential
3. stock motor mounts
4. Do drive it hard, not all the time, drag strip occasionally
5. 3 times, 3rd twice, 2nd once
6. All times during fast WOT shifts
7. 85K, 98K, 108K
8. Had nitrous before, but not after the trans was re-build the last time. Personally I think it's the clutch.

Mr Cranman

iTrader: (1)

Have not blown a gear
1) Have the ACT street clutch
2) Don't have a Quaife
3) Homemade Poly Urethane Motor mounts Front back and sides mounts
4) Have like all the bolt (VI, ECU, flywheel, y-pipe, exhaust, CAI, UDP)
5) Drive hard when racing and go racing on street every other week or so
6) I think the Quaife might be to blame
7) Have had 2 ACT street clutches and have put about 60K on my car with them
8) Have had synchro fail and broke a CV joint which I think was due to heavy 17" rims that weren't made for the Max (stealth rims just having fun with thme on) and the ACT grab when I shifted hard into 3rd.
9) Love the clutch but haven't had any problems with blowing a gear.

BrianV

iTrader: (9)

1. ACT Street Clutch
2. No Diff
3. stock motor mounts
4. Do drive it hard once or twice a week, not all the time, drag strip very rarely
5. All Gears 1-5, 3rd being worst
6. Happened during 2-3 WOT shift close to redline
7. 96k
8. SC

MaxSE98

1. JWT stage two
2. Open diff
3. stock mounts
4. drive it hard every day only on the street
5. once third gear
6. in the middle of embarrassing an integra on the 2-3 shift at WOT
7. 60k .... 5 k after jwt install
8. Ive since upgraded all the requested info
now i have
1. ACT HDMM
2. VLSD
3. home made motor mounts
4. CHANGED DRIVING STYLE (still drive very aggressive, changed my clutch strategies and its actually alot faster)
5. No blown gears one Snapped halfshaft
6. Snapped half shaft while leaving from a stop sign little wheel hop then snapperooo
7. about 85k i think
8. Tires and suspension play a huge factor dont forget. traction is what breaks gears. alot of traction is fun but skinny tires give way easier then gears do.

ive got alot more theories on this and some designs for a revised front suspension lemme know if your interested in swapping ideas
-pete

Matt93SE

iTrader: (44)

1) ACT Street Disc
2) factory LSD
3) NEW OE engine and tranny mounts. (less than 5k miles)
4) I drive extremely hard, but don't bang shifts. I'll run it to redline and give it an easy shift to save the clutch and tranny.
5,6,7) First problem- input shaft bearings and synchros.. rebuilt at 160k.
Second problem... 168k miles.. ACT clutch installed after rebuild at 160k.. Racing earlier, missed a 1-2 shift.. 10 minutes (and several stoplights later) I shift to 3rd gear and it's not there. try to stick it in 4th gear, and I hear a nasty CRUNCH sound. shifter locks in place and I can't move it. tranny completely locks up. when the shop opened it up, gears 2,3, and 4 were all shattered. 3rd shattered and broke the shift fork, causing 2 and 4 to go at the same time when it cross-shifted while I was trying to get it in 4th gear.

8) drivetrain: Lightened stock flywheel (~3lbs lighter), ACT street disc, ASP underdrive pulley.
suspension/brake mods: eibach/tokico w/ 225/50/16 Kumho 712s. WSP subframes, ST sway bars, FSTB. skyline brakes up front w/ 17lb rotors.
engine mods: advanced timing, WSP CAI.

not a lot there to add much power, but it's still noticeably faster than stock.

BriGuyMax

iTrader: (1)

*bump*

Slickismax

iTrader: (4)

1)Clutchmaster stage III
2)none
3)none
4)I drive it somewhat hard, its used to see the track three times a month before the tranny blew.
5)I blew 3rd and fourth at the same time.
6)It blew going down the track speed shifting from 2nd to 3rd.
7)Had 54k miles.
8)I have a y-pipe, Greddy catback, MF Al flywheel, HF intake, ST shifter.

Glad it went under factory warantee!

BrianV

iTrader: (9)

This is amazing I had NO idea so many people blew gears, I thought I was another pioneer of blowing something.

Had I known this I wouldn't of assumed my transmission was good for the power. Oh well, in the past couple of months I've greatly changed my driving style, it's just not worth it anymore.

Turbo95Max

iTrader: (25)

1. JWT Stage 2 clutch
2. Nissan VLSD tranny
3. PR Polyurethane mounts
4. Drive it hard 40% and cruise 60%
5. no gears, differtial went bad on brand new tranny, 3 broken axles
6. When racing or driving hard
7. Not sure
8. Ive blown a brand new Nissan Tranny, and 3 driver side axles.

hlh0501

iTrader: (1)

i feel stupid, what do you mean by miss a shift?

BriGuyMax

iTrader: (1)

grinding gears

dwapenyi

iTrader: (3)

Notice a pattern?? Everyone has an afermarket clutch. I have an ACT and coming from stock it felt like the ACT was throwing the full brunt of the VQs torque at the tranny. The stock clutch threw what it could. If you were over-enthusiastic with the engine, the clutch took it and burned, rather than send everything to the tranny, like the ACT does. Hmmmmmm.

DW

Sprint

iTrader: (10)

1) ACT Street Clutch
2) OEM Tranny
3) home made motor mounts
4) Beat on it constantly.. strip and street.. redline every chance i get.
5) None
6) Never
7) N/A
8) Turbo(T4/T04e), Nitrous, 2 1/2 inch Catback, Straight Pipe, Sard FPR

Stephen Max

iTrader: (59)

I don't consider this the fault of the clutch - it's doing what it is designed to do. But it is certainly true that the OEM clutch is more forgiving for people with an <ahem> certain driving style, and it also leads to the conclusion that the Maxima transmission was not designed for rough treatment. Bottom line is, if you're going to hammer the tranny, stay with the OEM clutch.

BriGuyMax

iTrader: (1)

so then all the guys with forced induction and nitrous should use a stock clutch???

MardiGrasMax

iTrader: (14)

or a www.clutchnet.com six puck sprung hub set up. Its made for slippage and ease in drive train


1)Clutchnet.com Six puck sprung hub disc and HD PP
2)Quaife'd
3)PR mounts
4)Never power shift, quick granny shift's.
5)"knocks on wood" no problems to date

MaxSE98

i can beat a 2k2 with my current setup and i havent had any problems, i also stopped street racing

Sprint

iTrader: (10)

you whooped my **** a couple times

DAREN

iTrader: (3)

no power adders. i had a centerforce dul friction stg III on my 93se.

i was street racing and powershifted from 3rd to (what i thought was 4th) to 2nd @ 95mph. blew the clutch and 2nd gear. i think if i had the factory clutch 2nd gear would have lived.

in my experiece with the ACT clutches on my borthers built GSR, i've noticed that they are very sensitive to shift timing since they bite so hard and quickly. my brothers 3rd gear synchro and right axle went out. he also had a short shifter, this is also a reason i suspect shift timing.

MaxSE98

both of our cars are faster now sprint wait till my Z is done

Stephen Max

iTrader: (59)

Yes. Either that or don't abuse the tranny when you shift. Use Mardigras' technique of fast granny shifts.

Since the stock clutch allows more slip during shifts, it absorbs shock that would otherwise be transmitted to the gears. So you can power shift all you want with the stock clutch without any damage to the transmission. You'll use up your clutch pretty fast, but that's the tradeoff, along with a lower power transfer capability compared to the ACT. On the other hand, if you go with an ACT clutch, you have much better and more immediate power transfer from the engine to the clutch, and the clutch is capable of higher power transfer before it slips, but the transmission suffers more if you shift abusively.

Take your pick.

MardiGrasMax

iTrader: (14)

I have been looking ove this and what I am starting to think is maybe it has somthing to do with the clamping force of the pressure plate? That is what makes it grap hard and fast. The PP on my clutchnet set up is not very strong, the ACT is stronger, IIRC. The metal discs on my clutch is the main gripping/holding mechanism. So maybe it has to do with clamping force?

ericdwong

It might be especially if you're hammering through the gears. Out of anybody I would think you would be the one blowin gears. Whats interesting is now I read from clutchnet.com:

"6 Button "E-Z Lok" Racing Clutch Disc

Same as a 6 Button "Kwik Lok" but with a spring hub. The result is a positive lock up unit where steel has a degree of cushioning to prevent excessive driveline shock and breakage. A spring hub is made of high carbon solid bar material and turned on CNC turret lathe for precise accuracy. Also heat treated. Made for slippage and ease in drive train. "

It also reads:

"Not intended for street use."

I wonder if this clutch is better and as effective as the ACT. http://www.clutchnet.com/make/prodDesc.html#kushLok

BriGuyMax

iTrader: (1)

*bump*

Shadow

iTrader: (15)

The Vitek clutches that I get are a sprung hub design also. Up until the stage 6 anyways, at that point it's a 6 puck unsprung hub-race only. Pretty much like the ACT 6 puck clutch.

I thought that the puck design would result in lots of tranny failures too mostly due to what I've heard on this board and a couple of others. But I talked to one of the engineers up at Vitek for a while and he explained that since their Stage 4 (highest performance street clutch they have) is a sprung hub, it eases a lot of the driveline shock and so they can get away with the 4 puck design. And so far this has been true, haven't had a problem with any transmission failures on any of the clutches I sold.