Average clutch life for today's trucks & cars

It seems I'm reading several messages around here about replacing clutches. Back in the 60's & 70's clutch replacements were normal as they weren't near as durable as today, 100 or 150K would get one. In today's world I'd think a clutch should last almost forever. Last few clutch problems I've heard of, in my neck of the woods, were problems with the newer hydraulic actuators & not really the clutch itself. Just wondering what may be normal these days. How many miles on your clutch?

 

The clutch in Ranger was still just fine when I sold it after nine years and 110,000 miles.

 

Top of the skull my wife's 96 Tacoma had the original clutch, 160K when it was bought back in 2008 due to frame rot. Was starting to need one I think..

 

My 1995 VW jetta had over 220k when I got rid of it quite awhile ago (original clutch). I was not the first owner either. I think alot has to with quality of course but also how a person uses it properly or improperly. I've seen other people smoke a clutch pretty fast. The VW was also the one I learned to drive on

Edit- drove great and clutch was still good to go

 

All comes down to the driver.

 

200k on my 2007 xterra. Pretty sure original clutch. I've found they need throw out bearing before clutch's. Maybe 2-1? Maybe I've got bad luck.

 

100,000 miles or 160,000kms in my experiences is "average"

I've see 500k+ and I've seen brand new cars get clutches. Many variables.

 

270k miles original on mine when i replaced only because of squeaky throw out bearing. Still had tons of life left in the friction material

 

This 100%

 

Agree'd that it is all about how much the driver abuses the clutch.
I try my best to "stay off the clutch" as much as I can. I find I love to roll in neutral a lot.
Brakes are cheaper than a transmission.

That said, I've read there are issues with the throwout bearing on some stock clutches, we used to hear the whirring sound with ours all the time.
We also had some minor transmission issues, which still required the trans to be removed, at around 150K.
During that service we bit the bullet and got a new aftermarket clutch as well, no more whirring sound and the clutch is more positive feeling, also feels like there is more power to the wheels, you can hear them "grabbing" more now and feel it.

 

My old 2000 Honda clutch lasted 250k when I got rid of it and was still working fine. You should be able to get well north of 250k out of one if you know how to drive.

 

My 03 civic 5speed had 305K miles on it when I finally traded it in. Original clutch, engine, and tranny.
Rust killed that car. Most reliable vehicle I've ever owned.

 

I've probably owned about 15 cars with manual transmissions, and have only had one clutch replaced. That was because I bought it after the car had been sitting for a while. Had to replace the clutch and resurface the flywheel. Never replaced the clutch on that one, or any other afterwards.

There are simple things to prolong the life of your clutch, and doing "burnouts" is not one of them...lol

 

I'd say it comes down to the type of mileage! Even a shitty driver who spends his entire time driving on the highway will get at least a few hundred thousand out of it.

 

Not sure what kind of cars you drove in the 60s and early 70s but the ones we drove we were lucky to get 100k on the entire ENGINE, replacing a clutch at 70k wasn’t bad at all lol

 

Like was mentioned already about miles, stop and go all day or strictly highway? Many variables for sure. I will say that when backing the boat up the driveway or where we keep it out back in winter was hard on it. I put the truck in 4LO because it was taxing the clutch so much that I could smell it.

 

I've never needed to replace a clutch on any vehicle I didn't buy used, or that I was upgrading unrelated to wear. So yeah, they go for a while I reckon.

That said, they do wear. Based on the wear I've seen on a few of mine when I did take them out for whatever reason is that I'd expect they'd probably last around 300-350,000km or so with continued similar use. That's a super rough guess though.

Jeff

 

250,000 on a 2004 Dodge 2500 diesel with half of that towing on the original clutch