How stiff is too stiff...

...for your clutch pedal? My mechanic adjusted the pedal on my 2016 5 speed a couple of thousand miles ago (45k) after the pedal began to creak and the pushrod was so lose it rattled. His fix was a very firm pedal that feels somehow right for the truck, though it takes a good bit of force to press it down. Other 5 speed owners: is your pedal similar? Lately it has been making sounds again (clicking more audibly when pressed down, sometimes there's also a kazoo-like sound as well) and I'm wondering if the pedal can be damaged if it's used when too tight.

 

My clutch makes creaking noises when actuated and is quite stiff, so much so that I mentioned it to my wife last night.

 

Bro if your clutch sounds like a kazoo something is happening in there

 

A properly adjusted clutch on a first gen is smooth as silk and takes very little effort. Sounds like you have issues with your clutch arm, pedal pivots, or the clutch is close to being worn out making the pressure plate harder to push in.
I can’t see why a newer Tacoma wouldn’t be as easy to operate as my older truck.

 

2nd gens also get clutch pedal creak. Im used to it now but in the past I greased the ball on the clutch fork that was where most of it came from but also some inside the cab.
If you search there’s an old thread on dealing with it

My pedal is easy. This isn’t some big block with a super stiff clutch pressure plate

 

Get your head down there and tighten the cross bolt at the top of the clutch pedal. Mine was doing this a long time ago and at a stop sign the nut came off the bolt and the pedal went wayyyyy out of whack, I couldn’t depress it so I pulled into a neighborhood and spent like 45 mins trying to line the bastard back up