Luk throwout bearing

69hemibeep

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Original poster
Joined
Apr 26, 2025
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7
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AZ desert
I got a Luk clutch kit and test fit the bearing to the collar of the transmission. To start with the part of the bearing that rides on the collar is plastic and the fit is sloppy way beyond what wear would cause. Is this the norm or should I shop for a different bearing. Thanks
 
I didn't go Luk. I bought bearings from Crown, National and Orielly's house brand Masterpro. The Orielly's one = National. The crown was the best of the 3.

Crown on the right made in Taiwan. The National is made in China.

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I replaced my factory installed clutch with what I removed, Sachs.
 
That's what was in my 04 as well. Very little wear at 70k, but my original throwout bearing was terrible. One of those replace while you're in there things. Basically same issue as @Daryl below

Luk standard duty is fine though. They were also an OEM in some years and the 190hp jeep is not exactly demanding of clutches.
 
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That's what was in my 04 as well. Very little wear at 70k, but my original throwout bearing was terrible. One of those replace while you're in there things.

Luk standard duty is fine though. They were also an OEM in some years and the 190hp jeep is not exactly demanding of clutches.

My clutch was in great shape when I removed it. The problem was the pilot and throw out bearings had leached out all the oil in the grease leaving just the paraffin (wax) base. Only had 47K miles on it. Old age took its toll on the grease.
 
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I didn't like how the LUK was so plastic-y and I used a national bearing that @hosejockey61 had on hand back when my jeep was a manual. However we did re-use the rest of the LUK kit.
 
I contacted Luk about their composite /"plastic: vs metal TOB. I was told the failure rates were equal, but the metal ones caused more internal damage when they failed.
 
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The local Drive Line Service installed a Luk clutch kit in my TJ after the installed throw out bearing started making extreme noise and self destructing.

After a short while the throw out bearing started making noise. They fixed it but not sure what they did, replace or lube it up.
 
I used the Luk bearing as it felt smoother than the, rather gritty, National bearing.

Yeah, that's the biggest why I installed with the Crown bearing. National felt gritty to me too. The overall finish of Crown was better and it showed in bearing smoothness.