Too soon, on the whole, IMO.
When I was a resident, my first intraop death was a trach done too soon. He could've kept his ETT another week while his various organ systems clawed their way off the edge of death, instead the early trach mantra won out and we pushed him off the edge completely.
Trachs are like any other non-urgent case and should be done when the patient is optimized. Just because the patient is stuck riding a vent and will need it long term doesn't mean there can't be real improvement to the rest of their organ systems.
In sick patients I think a lot of surgeons try to get them done too early.