How often do you guys replace clutches?

The clutch in my 86 nissan truck went about 146k miles and needed replacement. I pulled the engine at 340kish miles to rebuild it and the clutch was fine. I replaced it anyway. Now less than 20k miles later, the clutch is chattering. I strongly suspect I overheated the clutch right after the rebuild, because I was having trouble getting the truck to run and was doing a lot of slipping the clutch and reving the engine. I was having a TPS or MAF sensor problem and didn't know it.

yamaha wrote: In reply to asetech: I thought you guys replaced clutches every third transmission.....

Still on original trans...only people who have problems are people who over abuse them and people who think they should shift like a Honda. The trans was originally developed for a European diesel minivan, so its strong but doesn't necessarily like to be shifted like an idiot.

As a clutch wears, won't the engagement point on the pedal get higher and higher? So if the pedal engages all the way at the top of travel, isn't that often a sign of a wearing clutch?

Last clutch I did was on a 95 S10 4wd. original clutch at 125k. Truck had been through a teenager, farm life, offroad use, etc.

disc was fine, throw-out bearing had worn through the pressure plate.

While I always change a clutch as part of any engine rebuild, I have only ever had to replace two clutches on engines I've built. One was on a race car where the rear main seal failed and greased the friction surface, and one was on a street car with a Centerforce unit that managed to shed a piece of finger spontaneously (nothing to do with use).

I shudder when I see drivers sitting at lights with the clutch held in. As an inveterate driver of old British cars with carbon faced rlease bearings, you do NOT want to do that, no matter which style of bearing you may have.

In reply to asetech:

Thats probably true.....my neighbor is on his 4th transmission, 2nd "built" one. Sad thing is, his car is nearly stock.

Last clutch I did was on a friends S10 because the spring "fell out" of the disc hub. And within 50 miles, replaced the replacement slave with the old OEM one he replaced. Stupid Retard Auto junk..... Best part was having 4- 1' extensions put together to get to the bellhousing bolts.