Clutches

Probably due to gear ratios designed for the commercial vehicle they're usually based on.

I believe that is one of the easier questions. Motorhomes unless towing a toad etc are handling 100% or just a little less than their designed gross vehicle weight.

Domestic cars towing caravans are hauling generally between 185% and 200% of their designed gross vehicle weight. That they fail all too readily working far over their optimised design point is no surprise to me.

Plus the auto reverse brake on caravans can make life far worse for the clutch when reversing up inclines where the van wants to roll forward.

Thanks for explanations, they make sense. That oft' on site aroma is quite evocative for me, a reminder of my towing times and, when I was a child, my dad's towing days.

before we had a motor mover we always got a smell of clutch after reversing but since having one (2003) we always let the motor do the reversing every single time and no more smell. 

We have a manual Jeep Wrangler, owned it 16 years, towed caravans and trailers tens of thousands of miles in that time, and up hills like Haldon, some of the biggies up here in Yorkshire. Still on original clutch. Depends on the driver more than anything else, I should think. We have watched (and smelt!) a few clutches pushed to destruction on a few campsites down the years.

The Wrangler is though a vehicle aimed at users where a bit more ruggedness in its transmission etc is expected than say we would expect in a family saloon or the sudo SUVs.

That said I agree a lot depends on the driver and their sensitivity to what is happening, rather than the blindly thrashing it type.

Makes sense but it always surprises me that so many folk pay good money for those excellent but expensive motor movers and then don't use them.

I have been towing now for more than 35 years and every car prior to my current one was a manual gearbox. Most had high mileage when I sold them, one being in excess of 200,000 miles. I never had any problems with any of the clutches. I did have a main bearing collapse on my Rover 800 gearbox but I am not convinced that had anything to do with towing. I think it really comes down to a combination of correct use and a little bit of luck.

In all the years i have been towing with numerous cars all except one manual gearboxes and have never had to replace a clutch and some have been quite high millage (hope this post has not jinxed it)

Thanks guys, great response.

See TW ?? Opinions given and appreciated!! 

That's made me a little more relaxed about getting a stick shift.

Thank you hope everyone has a great Christmas, and a prosperous and eventful new year.