4WD technology is being actively applied to passenger cars. Therefore, dry multi-plate clutches are used for transfer cases. On the other hand, dry clutches have problems related to large vibrations and poor ride quality. To solve this problem, this paper proposes a multi-plate clutch with an MR fluid. When fastening the multi-plate clutch in the transfer case, the proposed MR clutch was applied to reduce the shock and friction, which is a key component in a four-wheel-drive system. MR multi-plate clutch has a fluid coupling mode and a compression mode. A torque model equation was derived for the optimal design. The analysis was performed using Ansys Maxwell to optimize the design parameters of the multi-plate clutch. Electromagnetic field analysis confirmed the strength of the magnetic field when the number of disks and plates were changed, and the maximum strength of the magnetic field was 0.45 Tesla. By applying this to the torque equation, the spacing between the plates was 2 mm, and the inner and outer diameters of the plates were selected to be 45 mm and 55 mm, respectively. Overall, this paper proposes an optimal design technique to maximize the performance of an MR multi-plate clutch.