13 Jun 11 07:14, TOM WALKER wrote to ROY WITT:   
      
      
    RW>> When I was still in business c1995, there was a swimming pool   
    RW>> service company next door. The owner had just bought a new Toyota pu   
    RW>> to use in his business. These were the days that Toyota was bragging   
    RW>> about how long their drivetrain would last and moreso about how low   
    RW>> the maintenence costs were. It was maybe two weeks after he put it   
    RW>> into service, I saw a tow truck bringing it in. The owner was out   
    RW>> there, bitching at his service guys about the already worn out   
    RW>> clutch. I walked up and said' "You guys put 125k on that truck   
    RW>> already?" He was fuming mad about it so much that he couldn't say   
    RW>> another word.   
      
    TW> Haven't heard any Hard on a Clutch drivers that bad but in a lot   
    TW> drivers seemed to excessively slip their clutches when most had   
    TW> manual transmissions.   
      
   That guy was always overloaded when he went out for the day. My MIL used   
   to slip the clutch on her 82 Corrola because of a weak left knee. Three   
   clutches replaced, then it died a slow death in the back yard because she   
   couldn't drive it anymore. When she died, I went to get it. It was so full   
   of cockroaches, I just left it there. Open the trunk, it was full of   
   garbage, open the doors and the back seat was full of garbage up to and   
   including the back shelf. It was also full of black widow spiders under   
   the hood and I imagine, under the car.   
      
    TW> In my Automobile repair days I only had to replace one clutch.   
      
   My first clutch was in a friends 1946 Mercury when I was 16. I changed   
   the clutch in my 31 Model A by pulling the engine without a hoist. I   
   walked the engine forward on the frame by carrying it with a rope over my   
   shoulders. I also swapped a clutch in my 51 Ford in the parking lot of a   
   local restaurant. While I was racing my 63 Corvette, I figured out how to   
   R&R the trans and replace the clutch without removing the engine, which   
   was the way my Motor's Manual said it had to be done. I changed that   
   clutch 4 times that way. I hate to think of changing the clutch in my Z28,   
   as the trans is a 6 speed and probably heavier than an automatic.   
      
    TW> That was on a 1963 Pontiac Tempest.   
      
   I had one of those. It was a V8 and a great car.   
      
    TW> NOT a nice driveway task because of the rear transaxle and the   
    TW> enclosed flexible driveshaft..   
      
   I was fortunate and never had to do that, as the Tempest was the wife's   
   daily driver and she had long enough legs to reach that clutch peddle.   
      
      
                   R\%/itt   
      
      
    ..."We will not tire, we will not falter, we will not fail." - GWB   
      
      
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