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[marky522]

Ok, if you guys remeber i have always had clutch problems with my car, I chewed up a brand new clutch in less than 100 miles had it rebuilt and just pulled that one out all chewed to ^%&*@...... And i pull off the flywheel to get ready to reassemble everything and much to my surprise (yes i neglected to look the other times) there is just a blank void where the pilot bearing is supposed to be!!! When i pulled off the flywheel a bunch of pieces of what i think was once a housing!!! I dont think that it was EVER replaced, when i got in there there was NOTHING at all except those few pieces of side wall... I'll post some pics of the pieces and the clutch.

Mark

[AznDrgn]

HMM that worries me quite a bit since I've been told that my pilot bearing was going out. I'll have to look into that

[-nick]

when mine went it locked the torque tube shaft to the flywheel- i.e. no shifting. it was making a lot of noise before that. you could really hear it with the clutch in and revving the engine. when i replaced it i packed the pilot bearing with a little synthetic grease. so far so good.

also- you need a bearing puller to get it out. something you can rent or check out from your friendly mechanic.

good luck,
-nick

[Smoothie]

I hear they're threaded, so if they're not in too bad a condition you just screw in the right size bolt and the bearing comes out as you tighten down on it. If it's all banged up though, the threads would probably be ruined.

[Alex Roy]

My pilot bearing was VERY dead when I replaced the clutch. There are 2 different pilot bearings. before '79, they were normal bearings and could be removed with a normal pilot bearing puller. Halfway through '79 they changed to the one with a threaded hole at the back of the bearing (uses a 12mm bolt with 1.5mm thread pitch) and NORMALLY should be easy to replace (thread the bolt in and keep tightening it until the bearing pops out). When changing trying to change out the bearing the first time, the bearing was completely fused to the crank and the threads just stripped out of the hole, so I had to use a die grinder and grind half of it away to be able to pull it out. When I put the new engine, I reused my new pilot bearing (at most 20 miles on it) and skeptically tried the bolt tightening method and it worked perfectly.

[-nick]

thanks for the clarification Alex, i forgot about the change.

-nick

[Joes924]

good stuff.

[marky522]

Well I owe you guys a thanks, that is my exact problem, I wasnt able to change gears.
What do i need to replace? In one of my mag's it has a pilot bearing bushing???? What is this??? And does anyone know where to order one from that i can trust to get it to me when they say they will?

Thanks,
Mark

[-nick]

hi Mark,

the pilot bearing is just a plain old bearing that sits inside the center of the flywheel. the tip of the torque tube shaft fits into it and when you've got the clutch depressed the shaft spins on the bearing independently of the flywheel.

that's my down and dirty explanation. if anyone thinks there's is bad i'd recommend the 'crunch' test: put the car in gear and depress the clutch. now rev up the engine. if the car tries to move forward or you hear all kinds of nasty crunchy sounds, the bearing is cooked. don't worry this doesn't hurt anything but chop up an already dead bearing a little more.

Mark, the bearings are not expensive. don't buy the whole assembly including the housing. it's ~$70+ and isn't necessary. just get the bearing. i like dealing with Jason @ paragon products or pelican parts for parts i can't get locally. otherwise try the dealer or tweeks. i personally don't like performance products or auto atlanta.

good luck with it, it's a real pain!
-nick

[ This Message was edited by: -nick on 2002-05-10 11:18 ]