InfinitySRT
Full Access Member
Ok so let me see if I can get all this in here with out getting seriously pissed off and not making this into too much of a b!tch thread, I'm gonna try but not making any promises
Its gonna be a long one, here goes....
A few weeks ago I noticed my clutch was sliping and had little pressure in my pedal, I figured my OE clutch was on its last shift, truck has about 20K mi so not terrible in comparison to what I've read on here. The only dealership I could get into to was Schaefer & Strohminger in Fallston and since I was tight on time I had no choice but to drop it off there despite my previous problem with them, NEVER NEVER NEVER AGAIN
I left the truck with them and discribed the problem, when I finally got a hold of someone quite a bit later they told me the OE clutch was gone and needed to be replaced, nothing else at this point that they could find. I say no problem, I go ahead and order the Centerforce and have it red labled to me so they can get the truck in time for me to have it in Va for a show, the clutch arrives next moring. Once I drop it off they begin working on it, call me a few hours later telling me the flywheel is hotspoted and needs to be replaced, not covered under the warrenty I need to pay for it a new one. I went back and forth with them a bit then just gave up and said fine order it, they agree and say it will arrive next morring (Thurs) so it should be finished in time for me that evening so I can leave with it Friday and make my show in Richmond. Next morning I call to check on it, no part, later that afternoon same deal, still no flywheel. So ask what's up? They have no answer and are beging to play there game where they don't answer when I call nor return my phone calls. Long and short of it someone in parts screwed up and mixed up the flywheel part number and order a part that didn't exsist. And no one knew who made the error of course. So the new part arrives Friday and they install it along with the Centerforce and the Long Tubes, I miss the show in Richmond, had to take the Jeep instead which ment lots of extra work for me. I finally pick up the truck Monday afternoon and its late, after 5pm so no serivce guys are around. Well, the pedal is still on the floor and the CEL is on, WTF??? So I assume they didn't re-set the system when the headers were installed, I leave with the truck and head to a friends a shop who has an OBD-II unit, turns out they didn't reconnect the Evap sensor, so I go ahead and plug it in, how careless! But wait it gets much worse!!!!
I load the her into the trailer and leave for Cali, still breaking the clutch in so I'm driving like a baby, no WOT acceleration, no hard shifts, etc. I'm driving around Monterey for the event I was in town for and I hit the magic 500 mile mark, but traffic is heavy so I really can't open her up or snap her so I just keep waiting for the magic moment Then it happens......starts fighting me to go into gear? WTF??? I get back to Laguna Seca and park her in the lot and start trying to figure things out, a little low on fluid so I top it off. At this point I still had the stock slave/master for the clutch hadn't upgraded to the Viper unit. So after adding fluid it still wasn't shifting right, keep in mind I still haven't driven it hard at all which was upsetting me cause I wanted to give her a rip you know? I deiced to wait till I get to LA and take it to DC to help me out, so I put it in the trailer Monday and head down to LA, drop it off Friday at DC.
Dan is great and gets me to look at her, part of 1 of the problem, OEM slave master is gone, no pressure, but here is where it gets good, he tells me it seems as if its been shot for quite some time, keep that in mind. So I give the ok to get the Viper parts, he orders them in. The parts don't arrive till Friday am and I need to leave Sat for Lake Havasu, they start working on it no problem.....then I get the "Call". We have a problem, that brand new clutch you had installed....yes the Centerforce....yes Dan says, well its toasted!!!! WTF!?!?!?! The Centerforce had less then 550 miles in it!!!!Apparently, the dealership never checked the OE slave/master and it was failed before they installed the new clutch so with no pressure in the pedal the clutch was riding itself the entire time I drove it, add that to the fact that the dealer never properly torqued the pressure plate bolts and you get total clutch failer and damaged flywheel!!! Dan said when they opened up the tranny the bolts were hand tight at most!!! Since I was out of time they put things back together for me enough that I could get her in the trailer and make Havasu. Dan and Kim also gave me a contact at Woodhouse Dodge since I was headed to Omaha Ne next. Dan and Kim are great guys, DC is a kick ass place, wish I had more time for them to finish it but had to roll out. Plan on stopping by in a few months when I get back out for some other goodies :rock:
I call Mark at Woodhouse Dodge and he's great right from the start, bring it right in and we'll get it right he tell me. I drop it off Thursday afternoon and they get started right away. We order another Centerforce and Friday morning the start installing that, also letting me know the flywheel I had installed at the 1st dealership needed to be replaced as they had also warped it as they didn't tighten it properly. When I called the Service director at Schaefer & Strohminger he once again had no answer for me, didnt know what to say, tried to give me a run around for a bit, then told me if they slave/master failed the clutch and flywheel would be covered under the warrenty, which means if they had done there job in the first place all of this wouldn't have happened, he didn't answer me. So to some it all up I had to get another flywheel, did the Fidenza alum with the new Centerforce. Mark was awesome!!! Finally got in touch with the service director at Schaefer & Strohminger, who wasn't answering his calls either :dontknow: Finally agreed to paid for the labor and second Centerforce since they trashed the first one but would not pay for the flywheel, I think they should and I'm going after them tomorrow as I just got back to MD last night.
So please learn from $$$$$ mistake, DON'T GO TO Schaefer & Strohminger in Fallston, MD they SUCK!!!!!!
I wish I was closer to Woodhouse or DC both of them are top notch places, infact Dan called me yesterday to follow up with me and make sure I was pleased with their work, and Mark at Woodhouse is a great guy, hoping to catch him this race season and go hang out with him again.
Lastly I have to say I'm very pleased with Centerforce clutch, Dan shimmed the pedal so it releases in a nice location, high and not way down. Again I'm taking it easy breaking it in with the Fidenza flywheel, got 350 more miles to go, lol. I have pics of the trashed the clutch and flywheel if anyone wants to see, I'll post them up later prob.
Thanks for listening, soooo needed to vent and I don't want anyone to have the same problem with Schaefer & Strohminger THEY SUCK BIG TIME!!!! This is now the 3rd time I've had problem with them, NEVER again.
Its gonna be a long one, here goes....A few weeks ago I noticed my clutch was sliping and had little pressure in my pedal, I figured my OE clutch was on its last shift, truck has about 20K mi so not terrible in comparison to what I've read on here. The only dealership I could get into to was Schaefer & Strohminger in Fallston and since I was tight on time I had no choice but to drop it off there despite my previous problem with them, NEVER NEVER NEVER AGAIN
I left the truck with them and discribed the problem, when I finally got a hold of someone quite a bit later they told me the OE clutch was gone and needed to be replaced, nothing else at this point that they could find. I say no problem, I go ahead and order the Centerforce and have it red labled to me so they can get the truck in time for me to have it in Va for a show, the clutch arrives next moring. Once I drop it off they begin working on it, call me a few hours later telling me the flywheel is hotspoted and needs to be replaced, not covered under the warrenty I need to pay for it a new one. I went back and forth with them a bit then just gave up and said fine order it, they agree and say it will arrive next morring (Thurs) so it should be finished in time for me that evening so I can leave with it Friday and make my show in Richmond. Next morning I call to check on it, no part, later that afternoon same deal, still no flywheel. So ask what's up? They have no answer and are beging to play there game where they don't answer when I call nor return my phone calls. Long and short of it someone in parts screwed up and mixed up the flywheel part number and order a part that didn't exsist. And no one knew who made the error of course. So the new part arrives Friday and they install it along with the Centerforce and the Long Tubes, I miss the show in Richmond, had to take the Jeep instead which ment lots of extra work for me. I finally pick up the truck Monday afternoon and its late, after 5pm so no serivce guys are around. Well, the pedal is still on the floor and the CEL is on, WTF??? So I assume they didn't re-set the system when the headers were installed, I leave with the truck and head to a friends a shop who has an OBD-II unit, turns out they didn't reconnect the Evap sensor, so I go ahead and plug it in, how careless! But wait it gets much worse!!!!
I load the her into the trailer and leave for Cali, still breaking the clutch in so I'm driving like a baby, no WOT acceleration, no hard shifts, etc. I'm driving around Monterey for the event I was in town for and I hit the magic 500 mile mark, but traffic is heavy so I really can't open her up or snap her so I just keep waiting for the magic moment
Then it happens......starts fighting me to go into gear? WTF??? I get back to Laguna Seca and park her in the lot and start trying to figure things out, a little low on fluid so I top it off. At this point I still had the stock slave/master for the clutch hadn't upgraded to the Viper unit. So after adding fluid it still wasn't shifting right, keep in mind I still haven't driven it hard at all which was upsetting me cause I wanted to give her a rip you know? I deiced to wait till I get to LA and take it to DC to help me out, so I put it in the trailer Monday and head down to LA, drop it off Friday at DC. Dan is great and gets me to look at her, part of 1 of the problem, OEM slave master is gone, no pressure, but here is where it gets good, he tells me it seems as if its been shot for quite some time, keep that in mind. So I give the ok to get the Viper parts, he orders them in. The parts don't arrive till Friday am and I need to leave Sat for Lake Havasu, they start working on it no problem.....then I get the "Call". We have a problem, that brand new clutch you had installed....yes the Centerforce....yes Dan says, well its toasted!!!! WTF!?!?!?! The Centerforce had less then 550 miles in it!!!!Apparently, the dealership never checked the OE slave/master and it was failed before they installed the new clutch so with no pressure in the pedal the clutch was riding itself the entire time I drove it, add that to the fact that the dealer never properly torqued the pressure plate bolts and you get total clutch failer and damaged flywheel!!! Dan said when they opened up the tranny the bolts were hand tight at most!!! Since I was out of time they put things back together for me enough that I could get her in the trailer and make Havasu. Dan and Kim also gave me a contact at Woodhouse Dodge since I was headed to Omaha Ne next. Dan and Kim are great guys, DC is a kick ass place, wish I had more time for them to finish it but had to roll out. Plan on stopping by in a few months when I get back out for some other goodies :rock:
I call Mark at Woodhouse Dodge and he's great right from the start, bring it right in and we'll get it right he tell me. I drop it off Thursday afternoon and they get started right away. We order another Centerforce and Friday morning the start installing that, also letting me know the flywheel I had installed at the 1st dealership needed to be replaced as they had also warped it as they didn't tighten it properly. When I called the Service director at Schaefer & Strohminger he once again had no answer for me, didnt know what to say, tried to give me a run around for a bit, then told me if they slave/master failed the clutch and flywheel would be covered under the warrenty, which means if they had done there job in the first place all of this wouldn't have happened, he didn't answer me. So to some it all up I had to get another flywheel, did the Fidenza alum with the new Centerforce. Mark was awesome!!! Finally got in touch with the service director at Schaefer & Strohminger, who wasn't answering his calls either :dontknow: Finally agreed to paid for the labor and second Centerforce since they trashed the first one but would not pay for the flywheel, I think they should and I'm going after them tomorrow as I just got back to MD last night.
So please learn from $$$$$ mistake, DON'T GO TO Schaefer & Strohminger in Fallston, MD they SUCK!!!!!!
I wish I was closer to Woodhouse or DC both of them are top notch places, infact Dan called me yesterday to follow up with me and make sure I was pleased with their work, and Mark at Woodhouse is a great guy, hoping to catch him this race season and go hang out with him again.
Lastly I have to say I'm very pleased with Centerforce clutch, Dan shimmed the pedal so it releases in a nice location, high and not way down. Again I'm taking it easy breaking it in with the Fidenza flywheel, got 350 more miles to go, lol. I have pics of the trashed the clutch and flywheel if anyone wants to see, I'll post them up later prob.
Thanks for listening, soooo needed to vent and I don't want anyone to have the same problem with Schaefer & Strohminger THEY SUCK BIG TIME!!!! This is now the 3rd time I've had problem with them, NEVER again.
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