Pilot bearing?
 

I droped my tranny because I thought that my pilot bearing was going out. As I found out i was right all the pins fell on my face when I pull the PP. Now I have to get it out. But before i go a hackin and a whackin at this thing I want to make sure that its still there. I think it is the small silver ring that is inside my flywheel nut. I took a pic take a look!

Note: I tried the TP method with little success just ended up with what looks like a spit ball fight under my car and my parents mad because I wasted a good roll of TP! (yes, I got in trouble for that!)

lol, tp method, i've never heard of that...

I tried the grease method, where you pack the hole with grease and punch a dowel into it and try to force the bearing out. That didn't work on my 88 GXL, i ended up borrowing a puller from a local machine shop. Those things are bitches to get out!

Maybe instead of TP I should use some shop towels, that way it wont fly apart and look like a million little spit wads! If that doesnt work I guess I will go rent one.

hehe i cut mine out, yea im that good with a dremel

So im guess that the small silver ring is it. Im going to order a new one tonight and prob some new seals for the tranny while I got it down again.

One more thing you think I should put the little shield back up? Or nah just leave it off!

That's the way it goes with pilots: try the grease/TP method, then the rental slide hammer, then the dreml.

I figured out a way that is a lot less frustrating then packing it with grease or paper or trying to grind it out.

First you use a punch or screwdriver to break the cage and pull it out along with the needles. That's easy enough. Find a suitable bolt and completely grind off two sides of the head and grind down and round the remaining two sides so it just fits inside the lip of the bearing race. Then you simply place a spacer and washer (a socket works well) over the threads, thread a nut on and tighten the spacer down against the end of the e-shaft. The race will pop straight out.

So I dont under stand how this thing works and how it effects my clutch! I mean its inside the nut why does it effect my clutch?

It works because the input shaft on your transmission has a pilot rod that goes into that bearing to center it up under load. If the PB were not there, the front of the input shaft on the tranny would be allowed to move all over the place under load, allowing the clutch disk to skip around, and generally make a lot of noise and vibration because it's not engaging correctly.

The PB needs that 'shield' (grease seal) to make sure that the grease stays where it needs to be - on the needle bearing surfaces. It will install and run just fine with the grease seal in place, but unless you like pulling your tranny out for fun, I'd highly recommend that you spend the $4-5 and put it in there now, rather than get it all back together and find out you fried another PB due to oil starvation on the bearing surfaces. If you're willing to go through all the trouble of getting the old PB OUT, then take the time to do it right.

The puller that I used was borrowed from the local PEP Boys and I used a puller head with a bit of a ledge on one side. This ledge was ground down slightly to fit being the race after being inserted, then used the slam-hammer to draw the bearing out as best I could. This was AFTER the dremel tool was used to grind the race down a bit and weaken the metal - I guess I should expect that after 180k original miles on the PB.

Good luck getting it out, as it's a real PITA. Also, the TP trick will work ONLY if the TP is soaking wet with water, AND the dowel rod that you're inserting fits EXACTLY inside the bearing race - any amount of play in the rod will allow the TP to 'squirt' out between the rod and the race and not get you any hydraulic action behind the bearing. HTH,

What ever you do DON'T HACK at it, been there, was a dealer tech, there is a tool just for this job, so goto your Mazda Dealer and beg to use it, there realy is no other way to get it out

Awesome now I know. Man I cant wait until this weekend when I have another go at it!!


Man how am I going to do that? You think they will let me borrow it for a weekend because my nearest mazda dealer is pretty far!

Offer the dealer a check as a deposit. When you return the tool they can return your check. If you can get your hands on the mazda tool you will save yourself much frustrating and skinned knuckles. And when you do get the old bearing out I suggest freezing the new one to shrink it slightly and tap it in with a plastic dead blow type hammer and wooden dowel once you get it started. You dont want to do this again do ya? Good luck

yeah the mazda tool is the best, but universal pilot bearing pullers work as well. Although the one i used just barely got past the last edge of the pilot bearing. It was close, and to be honest i didn't know if it would work, but i hit it with the impact wrench and out she came. That was a big sigh of relief, let me tell you that!

Bullshit.

I Borrowed the Slide hammer tool from autozone. One of the attachments fit just fine and it worked good. Mine also had all the Inner Race gone and the Bearing were all over the place.

I pulled mine much in the same way as REVHED is saying. I ground two sides of a washer flat. I then put a nut and then the washer behind the bearing. I then inserted a bolt through the washer and into the nut. I used an air wrench to tighten it up since you can't hold onto the other end. Once the nut becomes tight, continue wrenching and the pilot will slide right out. I wasted a lot of time trying other methods before trying this one.

i rent the tool form autozone
and it works like magic
now i have another probelm
anyone have any suggestion on how to install the new pilot bearing?
i have a really hard time getting that in
i used wood in between and start hammering it , but the bearing will not go in at all

Use some scotchbrite to clean up the hole. Then use a socket the size of the bearing to drive it in with.


Once it is in give it a finger of grease.

thx for the fast responce
the problem now is i can't get the bearing into the hole at all
i am not trying to drive the bearing inner
the bearing will not go in no matter how hard i try to get that in
it will keep falling out
any experience on how to get it in a bit? if i can get it in there i am sure i can use the socket to get the rest into the hole

Are you sure you got everything out of the hole?

Freeze it.

hades12, yes i am sure i clean it really good

revhed, i thought about that too, but will it be easiler to break the bearing that way,isn't it?

Nah, it will be fine. It will make it a lot easier.

I'm back, go through your tool box and find a socket that has a slightly smaller dieamator then the pilet boss bore, put an extension the socket and use it as a driver, I does work

will try it and will post a result later