I have a 1999 Ford Ranger, got the clutch replaced approx. 18 months ago. Recently started experiencing clutch chatter. It started after I got stuck in traffic in Downtown Seattle on an extremely steep hill. Burnt the clutch a little in stop and go traffic, to a point where I was having a little trouble with it. Not my proudest moment. Up until that point I had never burnt the clutch to a point where I could smell it except for on a couple real tiny occasions where I have to stop on this steep loose gravel hill in front of my driveway. But that's probably only happened maybe 4 times since the clutch has been replaced. Other than that no problems engaging or driving.

From what I understand this is probably from hot spots on the flywheel created from burning the clutch.

Couple questions,

First, I know if it is hot spots, they won't go away on their own and they will get worse over time, but will they do any long term damage to anything other than the flywheel?

Second, does this sound to early to be experiencing this problem after having the clutch replaced?

Last, is it possible to maintenance or repair the flywheel without replacing the clutch? And if so is it gonna cost the price of a new clutch anyways?

Thanks,

The flywheel, clutch disk, and pressure plate will all have suffered, and depending if the fw got hot enough to crack, it will need replaced. How long it was in makes no difference in misuse and abuse cases like that.

Yeah, the flywheel and clutch plate mate up, so if one is gone, the other probably is too. Since you have to pull the tranny to replace either, you should just do it all.

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2000 Ford Ranger XLT
Extended Cab
3.0 Flex
4x4
Manual Transmission
Offroad Package