What am I looking at?

[68wannabe]

I have no idea what this thing is called that I'm looking at. It's the inner most circle inside of the flywheel holder. I just call it a bearing, but I can't seem to find it anywhere on the web. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

[racer57]

If you are talking about in the center it's a pilot bearing

[LockDoc]

Originally Posted by 68wannabe

I have no idea what this thing is called that I'm looking at. It's the inner most circle inside of the flywheel holder. I just call it a bearing, but I can't seem to find it anywhere on the web. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

That is called a pilot bearing. It is the bearing for the input shaft on the transmission. It is usually made out of sintered brass but you can get them with roller bearings too.

LockDoc

[68wannabe]

Alright, thanks guys! I'm needing to get one for my new 400 motor, but couldn't figure out the name of it. Would it be possible to reuse this old one?

[tcrist]

That is called a "pilot bushing". It is there for the pilot shaft to spin on for a manual transmission.

[hamjet]

They're cheap enough, buy a new one...

[71swb4x4]

Originally Posted by hamjet

They're cheap enough, buy a new one...

What he said. If you decide later that you should have replaced it you are either pulling the motor or the transmission.

[68wannabe]

True, best to just save me the trouble. I'm guessing you just hammer the bearing in?

[truckster]

I you're running a manual transmission, now is the time to do a complete clutch job. That means clutch disk, pressure plate, throwout bearing, pilot bearing, and resurface the flywheel.

And you shouldn't need to hammer it in. A few light taps with a brass hammer should do it. If you take a steel hammer to it, you're probably going to deform it.

Here's an old trick to get one out: Fill the middle of the bearing with grease. Use a drift or even a bolt close to the size of the inside diameter, and give it a good rap with a hammer. The grease will force the bearing out.

[tcrist]

Originally Posted by 68wannabe

True, best to just save me the trouble. I'm guessing you just hammer the bearing in?

The main thing is not to deform in inside diameter. Your pilot shaft has to slide into it and if it is smashed/deformed you could have one heck of a time installing the trans.

You need to measure the outside of the new one and measure the counter-bored hole that it slides into. You need to be sure that you have the correct one. You also need to test fit it to the pilot shaft on the trans. Again, double checking the fit.

If everything fits like it is supposed to, then what I do is use a bushing insert tool to install it (they can be had at Harbor Freight for not that much). You can also just use a socket that it's body size just smaller than the od of the pilot bushing. But be careful.