SEMA 2011: Centerforce’s Dyad Twin Disc Clutch

There’s no way around it – as you add power to any car with a manual transmission, you get closer and closer to the point where the stock clutch just gives up. Traditionally, the answer has been an aftermarket replacement with more clamping force (and a pedal stiff enough to work as a one-leg Stairmaster machine), a more aggressive mix of friction materials (and grabby, light switch engagement characteristics) or both.

Centerforce's Will Baty explains the Dyad clutch to the assembled multitude.

The obvious solution to these problems is a twin-disc setup that doubles the contact area between the flywheel, clutch friction material, and pressure plate. Unfortunately this approach has its own drawbacks, chief among them being the challenge of packing twice as much into the same space as a conventional single disc. Centerforce’s Dyad twin disc clutch takes a unique approach – the weight-assisted diaphragm spring Centerforce is known for provides excellent clamping force with near-stock pedal effort, and a carefully-chosen mix of friction materials gives excellent engagement characteristics.

Best of all, though, is the combination of a “sprung” fixed disc and unsprung floater – initial engagement is softened by the hub springs on the first disc, and as the stack compresses, the floater does its part to hold the load. Because the sprung/unsprung design allows for a shorter assembled height, the Dyad keeps plenty of travel to further improve drivability, in a clutch that can handle as much as 1,300 foot-pounds of torque.

A combination of sprung and unsprung hubs gives good engagement characteristics while keeping the total thickness of the clutch assembly within the space available.

The end result is a clutch that you can be happy with in a daily driver, even if your daily driver is some insane four-digit dyno monster.

About the author

Paul Huizenga

After some close calls on the street in his late teens and early twenties, Paul Huizenga discovered organized drag racing and never looked back, becoming a SFI-Certified tech inspector and avid bracket racer. Formerly the editor of OverRev and Race Pages magazines, Huizenga set out on his own in 2009 to become a freelance writer and editor.
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