Zoom clutch.....the good, the bad, the ugly?

no experience with zoom, but I did roast my hayes street/strip clutch with a 3500 rpm clutch drop in 2nd gear on the TKO-600 with 3.21 gears and 28" tall tires.

oops.

put in a CF DF and I've been happy with it so far.

Thats what i thought, you'll hear good & bad, even on other brands, i've heard horror stories from the chevy crowd about Centerforce, but also great things, i installed one, it was just the lower line disc., no ceramic, i broke it in & let it rip on the bottle at the track with Hoosiers, worked great.

The Zoom in my 65 lasted about 5 months and thats when it was almost stock.The McCleod was good but used a lot of leg muscle.It has the CF now and is easy to push and handles 600 horse.Been in 3 years and no problems.Next Im trying the McCleod dual disc.Rocky

This is my first experience with high performance clutches and a 4-speed in an old Mopar so I need all the input I can get.

If you want the absolute lightest pedal and able to hold 800+ hp with no chatter, and silky smooth engagement,....do what I did. Go with a Dual disk McLeod RST. Sure, they cost a bunch more, but I couldn't be happier. It's a TRUE street strip clutch. It's like driving a late model car around on the street, but can handle a TON of power. Never slips!!!! I've dropped the clutch at 5000rpm at the strip and it never slips, with my low 11 second Dart.

Yes, He uses the CF DF and it's a fantastic clutch. He has had very good luck with it. One time it started to fall apart (lining material) and he sent it back to CF. They replaced the disc for free. He still uses it to this day. Very nice clutch.

I never really liked the ON/OFF feature of the clutch when driving around town. It has a very very narrow area where you can slip it for pulling out at low rpms and such. As with anything, I'm sure the more you drive it, the better you get at it. So it's not a bad thing at all. I just didn't care for that.

SO I upgraded (after a ton of research) to this McLeod setup. The engagement window is much more broad and it is very smooth. Makes it very easy driving around town. I am very happy with it. I don't know of any other mopar guys running this clutch, but a ton of mustang and ls1 guys run it,...for a reason. It holds up to their big power and the do indeed run these cars on the street all the time.

For $700, vs $350 for a CF,.... I'd do it again.

Had a McLeod in our circle burner 360/3 sp. Upon later dissassembly the disc was burned & never missed a beat.

With a name like 'Zoom' what do you expect? I use McLeod in all my big blocks. And yes I race them.

Which Centerforce do you guys run? There are several different series.

I have the dual friction.

I have had three, only 2 now. The first lasted for 10 years. This is not behind a 600 hp engine, its worse than that. A measly 350 to 400 HP 440 in a 4x4 truck that I forced to pull 3rd gear when I needed that wheel speed to climb X hill. When blasting dunes I would slip it like you would a dirt bike to gain RPMs. Truck pulled every year at least! twice. Generally abused it every time I drove the truck. So what finally did it in .018 dish in flywheel hot spots on flywheel the size of golf balls. NO! It pull started fully loaded 18 wheeler,RVs and tree stumps.n It gave up one day just a normal day like every other day. It was a daily driver to boot. SO I bought another, thought 10 years was good service. I have one in my duster it only makes 400ish HP its 422 ci. Ive dropped the clutch at 5000+ in 2nd it just boils the 28 inch bfg drags through the 3.23 gears and TKO 550 trans. I WILL NOT ENDORSE things that perform poorly.. The CF DF is one of the best products I have ever used.
I had tried stock NAPAs one pull toast. I got serious I called Hayes, they said street truck and pulls got just what you need a ceramic disk used there F/W & T/O bearing. It chattered violently P.O.S.. I called them to return it they told me NO and nothing was going to do what I wanted with out some issues. Called C/F they guaranteed me I could return if it chattered,if it wouldn't hold they would make it RIGHT. I don't know if they would have? because its every thing they gave there word it would be. This was back when C/F was just starting out not many dealers. Thats why I am a repeat customer.
There are some set up issues though. You must have enough free play for the centrifugal weights to travel after engagement. Free play at 3500+ rpm. The fingers reach out towards the T/O bearing if they dont have room to continue out you do not get full benefit from the weights. Oh I went with the corvette sized clutch and aluminum flywheel in the Duster for quicker shifts and revs. Very satisfied.
Good clutch and happy hide boiling.

I use the dual friction also.Rocky

Very good...thanks again guys!

I hear Mcleod is the way to go. Call Passon Performance or Brewer's Transmission and they'll give you an honest answer. Wanna say that passon said mcleod is made in the US also (could be wrong though)

Give us a call, we can fix you up with a good Mcleod clutch!

Wayne