96 F-150 Clutch

I got a 96 f-150 with 65,000 miles(it sat for a long time, had a company truck) I noticed when I stomp on it, it acts like I am on ice. I am guessing it's the clutch starting to go. The RPM's rev up for a second then it catches, I imagin it will only get worse. I have been reading alot of forums on the 96, and its seems a little premature for the clutch to go out. Any othere sugestions on what it might be? To bad my waranty ran out....any guesses on what this might cost? I have been very happy with it over the years, been driving it free for the last 5 years and want to keep on driving it. It is in excellent condition, no rust and still bright red!!!

If it slips more in higher gears than in lower it IS the clutch. They usually last 100,000 miles or more, but I've seen them killed in 30,000 miles by excessive slipping (if you can't get it moving in 1st WITHOUT touching the gas pedal, well, you shouldn't be driving it).

The clutch itself is about $200, and an easy DIY job if it's a 4x2, but a pro (or PITA DIY) job if 4x4.

It's a 2wd. I looked up in there today and it almost looks like there was a birds nest in there. I have changed starters, alternaters, and misc other things before, so maybe I will atempt this. I saw a rebuild kit on e-bay for 80 bucks. Any good books out there on how to do this, I was reading the reviews on Amazon for the Chiltons and they said it has really gone down hill on showing how to do things.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&category=33730&item=2477404417&sspagename=STRK%3AMEBWA%3AIT

Well heres a update, I took it in for a price on a clutch, on the way there the serpintine belt broke, along with the tension arm for it. I am real busy at work so I had a shop do it for me. They called today and informed me that they droped my truck off the hoist. So what started out as my clutch slipping turned into a new clutch, master slave, serpintine belt, tension arm, and a trip to the body shop. If I didn't love my truck so much, I think all of this work is worth more than the truck. If it wasn't in mint condition on the outside I might have said screw it, oh well. When it rains it pours

one things to do, before it goes bad, would be replace the plastic plugs on the top of the tranny with steel ones. The M5OD is really bad a bout leaking out all of its fluid and frying its self in a short order of time, figure i would let you know because it is at the right age to start seeing this problem.

Thanks for the advise, I will call them and have them take care of it. They kinda owe me one. They called me today and said I wont have it back until the end of next week. I hope now I can go another 8 years without having to put any money in it, its only has 60 something miles on it, and from what I have heard the Inline 6's last alot longer than that.