Eaton launches new heavy duty clutch family

Eaton Corporation today introduced the Advantage Series clutches. Its next generation in heavy duty manual clutches, they have service intervals and warranty coverage that are up to twice those available on current clutch offerings.

Because a clutch serves as a torque transfer device between the engine and the transmission, 90 percent of the clutch’s work cycle is damping vibration of the driveline, explained Tom Rohlwing, Eaton’s manager of engineering programs.

“With that in mind, we developed our new Advantage Series clutches to help ensure consistent, trouble-free and long-lasting service that is well reflected with the new service intervals and new warranty coverage that we can now offer our customers,” he said.

The Advantage Series Clutches feature proprietary premium and high-strength materials for a more robust design. Premium facing material makes for longer life and smoother engagement.

The new clutches also have a new release bearing housing with three grease fittings that allow for flexibility in setting up a lubrication path regardless of release fork design.

A more efficient grease reservoir allows for the extended grease intervals. Plus, new composite slingers better retain grease and keep out contamination.

In addition, the release bearing housing’s new casting design provides improved strength. Wider thrust plates increase the contact area with release forks to enhance performance.

With the new clutch series there is a 50 to 70 percent reduction in part numbers, according to John Beering, vice president/general manager clutch and aftermarket.

The new Advantage Series clutches’ numerous product improvements and enhancements allow for new 50,000-mile service intervals replacing current 25,000-mile intervals for linehaul operation.

There is a 3-year/350,000-mile linehaul warranty, a 2-year/200,000-mile vocational warranty and a new 2-year/unlimited mileage aftermarket warranty, replacing the current 1-year/unlimited mileage warranty.

Eaton will continue offering customers two 15.5-inch heavy duty clutch options. The new manually-adjusted Eaton Easy Pedal Advantage clutch is replacing the Eaton Easy Pedal clutch, and the new self-adjusting Eaton Solo Advantage clutch is replacing the Eaton Solo clutch.

Available now for new truck orders and through the aftermarket, the Advantage Series Clutches are backwards compatible on Class 7 and 8 trucks with 15.5-inch clutches.