Remove a pilot bearing

1Michel

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Apr 25, 2008
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Saint Joseph du lac, Québec
I had to change the rear engine seal on my wife's Mustang.
The damn thing has been leaking for a while,

Soo after I pulled the tranny , clutch assembly, flywheel etc. I had no problem pulling the seal out but I was kinda stuck with this little pesty pilot bearing.

I searched the web and found this.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xuR7T8G1Ys[/ame]

I tought it was a joke but didnt want to use grease to force it out and didnt have a puller.

I tried it, and as I was stuffing the hole with wet paper (I used my last Visa statement) I couldnt stop thinking that I was going to be laugh at pretty good but to my surprise... it came out just like in the video.

This is cool.

The not too cool part is that I'll have to change the oil pan gasket too.

This is going to be fun.
 
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All these decades I maybe owned 4? stick shift cars, and 2 of them were new....so never had to deal with the problem.....

but I have to say, that man is SMART....VERY good thinking....

I"d been under there with cutter tools and shit all over the place....

:clap::clap::crutches::friends:
 
They do make a slide hammer pilot bushing removal tool also ya know. I suppose any port in a storm is good.
 
Thanks for sharing that video! I would have been in the camp of non believers if I had not seen it. Faced with a stubborn pilot bearing myself, I tried the grease method and only made a mess. Did i say my bearing was stubborn? It was too tight a fit and i never should have driven it in, but there it was and I needed to remove it. The wet paper method might have worked, but I wasn't aware of it then and was only able to remove it using a Matco pilot bearing removal tool. After trying several other tools that failed, my local Matco salesman turned me on to a mechanic who loaned me his Matco tool. It took all of about three minutes for my stubborn pilot bearing to be on the ground. If faced with this problem again, I will definitely try the wet paper method. If it fails, at least it won't make a big greasy mess and I know where to get the tool.
 
Thanks for sharing that video! I would have been in the camp of non believers if I had not seen it. Faced with a stubborn pilot bearing myself, I tried the grease method and only made a mess. Did i say my bearing was stubborn? It was too tight a fit and i never should have driven it in, but there it was and I needed to remove it. The wet paper method might have worked, but I wasn't aware of it then and was only able to remove it using a Matco pilot bearing removal tool. After trying several other tools that failed, my local Matco salesman turned me on to a mechanic who loaned me his Matco tool. It took all of about three minutes for my stubborn pilot bearing to be on the ground. If faced with this problem again, I will definitely try the wet paper method. If it fails, at least it won't make a big greasy mess and I know where to get the tool.

NOthing worse than a greazzy assed mess on your crank.....


:banned::hissyfit::censored:
 
I agree Gene! The grease method might have worked well on bronze bushings, but I never had any trouble removing them with a puller. A tight pilot bearing can be a challenge though, and much better options than grease. The Matco tool impressed me, but next time I will definitely try the wet paper.
 
I have never heard of wet paper. The vid did not work for me. I have used grease and then steel clutch alignment tool and it has always worked. Word of warning for anyone with an LS series engine. Don't try any of these methods, the crank on a LS is drilled all the way through and then they put a freeze plug in it. If you try that method the freeze plug with pop out inside the engine. The LS cars actually use a real bearing though and SnapOn makes a nice puller to will take it right out.
 
They do make a slide hammer pilot bushing removal tool also ya know. I suppose any port in a storm is good.

Before I had a puller I found that a large tap worked great for removing the old bronze pilot bushing. Just start threading it in and it bottoms out and pushes out the bushing.
 
If the socket had a groove machined into it so an o-ring could be used to make a better seal.

I installed a pilot bearing in my ZZ4. I had to really wack it in. I don't think it's going to be easy to get out if it ever has to be removed.
 
If the socket had a groove machined into it so an o-ring could be used to make a better seal.

I installed a pilot bearing in my ZZ4. I had to really wack it in. I don't think it's going to be easy to get out if it ever has to be removed.

My tight pilot bearing came with my Tremec TKO 600. After installing it with a hammer, I became concerned and tried to get the bearing needles to move in the race, but they seemed frozen. This had me concerned the tight bearing might ruin the input shaft on the trans. I got a smaller OD pilot bearing from Tremec and it went into the crank with a little light tapping and the needles moved freely after installation. An ounce of prevention is cheaper than a few pounds of input shaft, or something like that. Just thought I'd mention it, as all bearings are not created equally.
 
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