Ok my 2005 is stock all around and I would like to keep it that way. I have 180k on it and the clutch pedal seems to be getting stiffer to push. It has the NV5600 tranny, shifts and drives fine just feels like it's getting a stiffer pedal. Would a newer master & slave like a south bend help with a softer pedal or do I have bigger problems coming my way?

 

My guess is that you have a bigger problem. Bet the the splines on the input shaft are gummed up.

In my case, the pedal was getting harder and harder to push. Then the clutch started to slip. Installed a new clutch, similar to the OE clutch and was amazed the first time that I went to push the pedal down. The pedal felt like a clutch pedal in a small 4 cylinder car. Now many thousands of miles later, it still feels good.

After everything came apart and I looked at the gummy splines, I am guessing that part of the clutch slipping problem was due to it just not being able to slide properly. There was quite a bit of meat left on the clutch plate.