This is my first Dodge with with the 6sp. Just wondering, how long should I expect with the stock clutch. I drive 50-50% town-highway, occassional medium towing, and try to never slip the clutch. I remember old advise from log truck drivers, "Never touch the clutch and go pedal with you foot at the same time"

Should go 100000 miles right? I never noticed until after I bought the truck there is NO warranty coverage for clutch components.

I would hate to spent my hard earned tire money on a clutch.

 

Yes, my experience is that if you drive it like you say you do and you leave it stock, you should get around 120k to 140k until it starts chattering. You could prolly go 160k is until it fails.

Most I have heard of is a guy that didn't use the clutch except to launch and his lasted 260k.

No throttle launches are great, especially when pulling your 12k lb boat/trailer combo out of a steep/slippery boat launch.

 

Yes, with proper care it should go at least that long. Also, avoid sitting stopped with your foot on the clutch, as this wears the release and pilot bearings, which have been known to fail prematurely.

 

Depends on DRIVERS.Its hard to put a mileage figure on a clutch assy.Its all guessing if you do.I've seen them as short as 12/14 k! and as long as 250k and sold with same clutch assy.Its all in drivers.Kinda like shoes,we all wear them in differant ways.

 

You should get at least a 100k out of it. It all depends on you though. You could fry it much quicker if your on it with throttle to long. These truck have a nice feature, no throttle starts. Try it, let off the clutch with no throttle at all, the comp will keep your rpms up, a big plus when your on steep hills, just get off the clutch asap.
I dont know of any car/truck manufacture that warrantys the clutch assembly. Some premium warrantys and after market warrantys do but they are pricey which would mean less hard earned tire money.

 

My '99 which is now Dad's truck has over 150,000 miles on the original clutch. Probably 2/3's of those miles were towing also. So much depends on the drivers clutch habits. With these trucks, you don't need to touch the go pedal to get rolling. That is real nice when towing heavy and adds to the clutch life. I know of one fella that has over 200k miles on the original clutch. But he lives in his truck and is drivng all the time hauling steel on a large flatbed trailer.

 

Mine is starting to slip at 133,000 on my '99.

I bought the truck used so it's hard to say how it has been used it's whole life, I got WAY more miles out of the original clutch on my old ford.

I do towe and sometimes heavy, but I expected a longer clutch life than this. I'm expecting to find a pilot bearing failure when I finally get my clutch changed.

 

was your ford a diesel? and did it tow as ofter with as much weight as you do now?

The more torque, the less clutch llife.

 

Nope it wasn't a diesel it was just a half ton. Definitely the torque of a diesel puts more stess on clutch components. But the fact remains that the stock parts should be able to handle stock loads, horsepower and torque.
The Ford wasn't a 40K truck either.

I'm not complaining, like I said, I bought the truck used and you don't know how the clutch was treated before you got it. Have I been easy on that clutch since??? No, definitely not, I have drove the truck hard, pulled some serious weight etc. but still I expected it might last 150K+, I wouldn't have guessed that 200K would be out of reach.

If the aftermarket can build a comparatively priced clutch that will hold more power longer, why can't Dodge put a stock unit in that will stand up?

 

Based on other responses to this forum, it would seem it does stand up as well as other oem's given the same set of circumstances.

 

I just put a clutch in my 03 with 15,000 miles. The problem was'nt the clutch wearing out, it was the extra torque from the chip& other mods. When I pulled it out the inner edge of the pressure plate had a good size burr on it, other than that it seemed fine except it slipped in sixth gear if you romped on it.