This blog branches off of my last one from Thanksgiving Break and its a brief conversation that my Dad and I had about the clutch in my truck. After we replaced the pilot bearing we decided to take a closer look at our clutch and pressure plate, at first we had the intention of reusing it because it looked like it was good enough and to save money we could just reuse it till it breaks. With that mindset my Dad showed me how to get all the surface rust off of the contact points and explained to me how a clutch works. As we were doing all this we came to the realization that brand new clutches for these Toyota's are damn cheap. For most vehicles if your clutch goes you can expect a big $300 dent in your wallet, but for this truck its a mere third of the price. While the engine is out might as well make it easier for down the road and just replace it now.
I went home and started doing my research on websites like rockauto.com and partgeek.com, scrolling through different brands and prices of clutch kits. I was about to settle on a Luk kit because it was only 80 bucks and the company has had some good parts in the past including being used in the earlier Corvettes. Then I decided to double check on the forums and I read "with clutches you get what you pay for", I also ran into some people saying their Luk clutches didn't quite line up right. That lead me to decide on my favorite brand for Toyota Pickup parts, Aisin. Aisin is one of the most well known suppliers of OEM parts and their clutch was $30 more (Aisin CKT049) and had great reviews from everyone I asked online.
Even though spending extra money is usually bad, I'm glad my Dad and I decided to take a few extra minutes to look over the clutch and decided to just get a new one cause not only will it save us from replacing it anytime soon, the truck will also shift and drive a lot better once the engines in. 
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