Instead of computer printers or shoes, I’m going to talk about clutches this time. No, not the lady’s purse thingy. The mechanical thing that you need for a manual transmission. For those of you unfamiliar with my rig and unable to read my mind, I’ve been towing since 2006 with a 2006 Dodge RAM 3500 with a manual transmission. That engine is bullet-proof but with 260k miles, I’ve had my fair share of other problems.

The factory clutch lasted much longer than it should have. One diesel mechanic in FL advised me that my flywheel was cracked but I was pretty sure he was wrong. A few years later a Dodge mechanic told me I needed a new clutch. I believed this one but thought I had more time to get it done. Well, that clutch failed on the interstate while I was towing to the sugar beet harvest. I already had an appointment for a transmission shop at my next destination so that just got moved up a few days. They replaced it with a brand name I’d never heard before but it was cheap.

Much sooner than I expected, I felt the need for another new clutch. This time I was in the Rio Grande Valley. I contacted an independent mechanic and dropped off the truck. Before work started he had texted me a picture of the new clutch and it looked very heavy duty. We left TX and headed northwest to Washington state where I started leaking transmission fluid. The Dodge dealer up there pinpointed the problem. I had also advised him of the recent work on the truck. After inspecting it thoroughly, he advised me that some of the parts had NOT been replaced. That was the beginning of a saga that took several months for me to get my money back. Anyway, with the leak fixed I was on my way again.

Within a month or two, the clutch that was never actually replaced failed. My choices for repair work were rather limited. There was a local NAPA mechanic who replaced it with a NAPA clutch. Again, not my first choice but expedient and cheap. When we left Washington we had a few mountains to drive through and I felt the clutch slipping on some of them.

Just last year, I took the truck to a Dodge dealer in South Dakota for a water pump replacement. They got me fixed up same day and the mechanic just mentioned in passing that my clutch was starting to fail. That is NOT what I wanted to hear. I couldn’t find anyone in the local area to install a new clutch before I left so I rolled the dice and kept driving. Tried to find someone in northwest Indiana but the shop I picked didn’t have a lift big enough for my truck. Tried again in FL and thought the quoted priced was too high.

I remembered that Dodge service advisor in Washington state had recommended a particular clutch to me and I looked for that online. Turned out it was a company in TX, our next destination, so I rolled the dice again. We made it to TX and I order the clutch kit. It was definitely more expensive than the last two clutches but you really do get what you pay for sometimes. Found a guy in San Antonio to do the install. He confirmed that my old clutch was very near failing. Boy am I happy with the new Valair dual mass flywheel clutch kit. It just feels solid and it really grabs. There have been numerous times I’ve left a stop sign or stop light and heard the tires squealing a little. I have high hopes that it will feel just as good while towing.