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Auto Parts/Vintage Ford truck clutch id

Expert: Mike Evans - 11/25/2009

Question

Hello! I am trying to identify some vintage clutch facings I got from a friend's attic, but so far I have not been able to find out more than this:

* O.D. 11 inches
* 36 rivet clutchplate
* Part# "1166", which also should correspond to "2272" and "51-7549"
* Indications that some Ford trucks used this clutch from 1935 to 1965
* Manufacturer Johns Manville

I know that these parts are both old and that identifying stuff like this bear some similarities to needles in haystacks :) But anyway, do you have any tips where to look for information on which Ford Truck models ca 35-65 that used an 11" clutch?

Any help is very welcome! If you can't help with this one, I fully understand that :)

Many thanks in advance,
/Carl in Sweden

Answer
That's a tough one. Ford used 11" discs in its clutches for a long time, up into the '90s. GM and Chrysler also used this size, I would guess it's the most popular clutch size in American pickup trucks. You will even see it in large-engined passenger cars from the '60s. I have taken two clutch discs, with the same part number, out of the box and seen different facings on them. I would imagine that these facings could be used on just about any 11" disc core, it would just be a matter of matching up the holes or drilling new ones in the core. Johns-Manville pretty much went out of business when they started all of the asbestos lawsuits over here. It's hard to make a profit selling stuff that kills people. So, you might want to be careful in selling these items, they may be made of banned substances.

Questioner's Rating

Rating(1-10)	Knowledgeability = 10	Clarity of Response = 10	Politeness = 10
Comment	I got an answer which (given the circumstances) was as good as one could wish. Keep up the good work! :)