Burning Clutch w/little traffic

I live in a pretty small town. It has a lot of hills and mountains though and when there is traffic I have to really put my clutch to use. Anyways, that being said after about 20 seconds of "using" my clutch, it starts to burn. I have been driving a stick for awhile now. So, I'd like to think its not driver error. But should a clutch with less than 10K miles on it be getting hot so hot with such little abuse?

 

What do you mean my "using". If you mean engaged enough to make the truck move or hold on a hill but still slipping 20 seconds is a loooonnggg time.

 

No, I mean depressing the clutch and letting it out over and over.

 

A little burn is probably fine; but in stop-and-go don't drive like an automatic. Try and time the traffic to stay in first or second and just ease along riding the break (but not stalling or touching clutch). Every once in a while someone will cut in front of you and force you to depress the clutch; but treat it like a game; fewest clutch contacts through the jam; and you should be fine. (I get bored with an automatic anymore..)

 

Burning the clutch because of traffic or hills means the clutch is being used for something it was not intended. You need to downshift. 20 seconds of clutch slippage means it is not being used properly. If you are talking about stop and go driving, even on hills it still should not be burning the clutch if used properly. You need to fully engage the clutch sooner even if it means chirping the tires a little. Also if you have put oversize tires on the truck or hauling a heavy load you might need to re-gear, but if it is all stock the clutch should not be burning the way you described if used properly.

 

As others have said, if you're smelling clutch smoke, you're not doing it right.

Your goal is to have your foot completely removed from the clutch as quickly as possible after getting the truck moving and after each shift.

If you need to hold in position on a hill, or prevent from rolling backwards, use the parking brake by hand to hold the truck until you've let out enough clutch that the truck's trying to pull forward, then release the parking brake. That'll help prevent long clutch-slips on hills.

 

Thanks y'all, most of what you are saying I do already, but it doesn't sound like a major problem, thanks for the tips!