Manual clutch free play/slop

[Fummins]

It seems easier to beat the snot out of a manual, I know of one driver that's burnt up 3 clutches in 3-5 ton trucks over the last few years. Who know's how the previous owner of your car drove it? There was one guy on the forum who had a 5pd mirage and he got a well over 300k miles iirc before having trouble with the transmission so there's that. I've seen cvt's fail or start to act up from anywhere between 140k miles to 186k miles but currently have a few in the fleet with around 300,000 miles that are still going.

[Mark]

It seems easier to beat the snot out of a manual, I know of one driver that's burnt up 3 clutches in 3-5 ton trucks over the last few years. Who know's how the previous owner of your car drove it? There was one guy on the forum who had a 5pd mirage and he got a well over 300k miles iirc before having trouble with the transmission so there's that. I've seen cvt's fail or start to act up from anywhere between 140k miles to 186k miles but currently have a few in the fleet with around 300,000 miles that are still going.

I think what Top Fuel brought is the weak link of the manual transmission of the Mirage. It's a cable system doing the shifting for you.

If I had to replace a clutch on a vehicle, it would be a first. It would surprise me to have clutch issues, but anything is possible. As far as transmission oil changes go, a manual is much easier (no filters & no dipstick). It basically remove drain plug, drain oil, install drain plug, refill it back up to the fill hole, & install the fill plug. I did mine at 30,000 miles, and I plan on doing it again when my Mirage reaches 80,000 miles. It's 1.6 quarts of oil & a little time.

For those who don't know how to drive a manual, I think it is easy to abuse them. I learned how to shift & work a clutch on 1948 Farmall H (which my dad still has) around age 9. I didn't have to row through the gears, but I learned how to manipulate a clutch pedal at a very early age.

When my grandpa sent me to the fire department at age 12 with my uncle's old International pickup truck, I had no problem getting there with a manual transmission. He later asked if I had my license, and that's when I reminded him how old I was.

For the guy who drove a 2007 Nissan Frontier for over 1,000,000 miles, his clutch made it to 801,000 miles before it was replaced. The truck is actually displayed with a sticker on the door indicating that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Cc3AgIy4vw&t=453s

If you use them right, I think a clutch can last a long time. If you don't, you can fry one up quite fast, too! Thus, I understand having a fleet of Mirage cars with a CVT. Operator error is less likely!

[7milesout]

From time to time I get a small jerk of clutch grabbiness. I get some (very minor) clutch judder sometimes when starting from a stop, slightly up hill, with the steering wheels turned right (leaving my neighborhood). I doubt my wife would notice the judder, and she drives manual transmissions pretty darn good. But these couple small issues make me wonder about clutch life.

The 6-speed Ram done ate up the pilot bearing at about 160k miles. I have no idea why it would have done that. However, that was the stock clutch at that time, and due to the very minor, but very effective power adder(s) the truck has, it would slip the clutch in 5th or 6th gear when trying. I think I was told the stock clutch was rated at 550 lb-ft. But I wouldn't think over powering the clutch and slipping it would have a negative effect on the pilot bearing. That's when it received the 1,000 lb-ft rated clutch.