So I've tried removing the pilot bearing with all methods. puller mazda and off brand. grease and news paper. I've even tried cutting it with a dremel.

It seems as if my pilot bearing is litterally fused to my e-shaft. any ideas?

for an 85 SE

 

I used a cone shaped grinding bit on a dremel. Just keep thinning out a section, checking often to make sure you're not through the bearing and going into the E-shaft. After you grind through the entire length of the bearing, you'll be able to "fold" it over a bit on itself and then pull it out. It takes patience, lots of patience.




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I've already grinded away almost all of the bearing and left a very thing bearing shell. still won't come out with multiple cuts through to the e-shaft. Am I going to have to grind all of the bearing shell out? what happens if I go a tiny bit into the e-shaft?

 

I'm having the same problem man. I'm just grinding away and away, and always making sure not to hurt the e-shaft.

 

I think i'm going to sell it for parts. I'm so sick of everything on this car being so completely abnormal for all problems. My wiring harness isn't even stock so I have no idea what anything is. brake master and brake booster are not even mazda and leak like ****. stock intake is so highly modified to run, not to perform, that I might as well run a carb. not to mention countless other things that I don't even want to write. I know my sentences aren't capitalized my shift button doesn't work all that well

 

gheez...i feel your pain though. i have two paperweight's myself.

:AA:

 

I know how it is with everything being not normal. My RX7 is highly modified, and it's hard to tell a lot of stuff, since I bought it that way. Sometimes I wish I knew what was what, but then other times, I'm glad for all the modification and it's nice to finally find out what something is.

 

the modifications on my rx7 are not beneficial. They're last minute repairs without the right tools.

 

First off, this isn't all that unusual, as it's happened to most of us out there.

My 84SE had this same problem last time I did clutch, and I tried the whole bearing puller rental, and the only thing that worked was to grind it down with the dremel tool and a metal cutting bit. Once you have the needles out (mine had grenaded in there), you can take a hardened steel chisel and a hammer and get the chisel blade right on the edge of what's left of the bearing case. Hammer that sucker home.

I guarantee it'll cut through the bearing case against the e-shaft, and once you have a splinter cut, you can use a screwdriver to bend it up and it will pull right out.

The problem is that heat has fused the bearing collar to the inside of the e-shaft, and this is a part that most people don't replace when they do a clutch, even though they should. So, many of our cars have the pilot bearing in there from the original factory. Coat that sucker in anti-seize compound when you install the next one.

Oh, don't forget to put the rubber grease collar on the outside after you grease it up, or the grease will run out under heat and you'll be doing this again in a year. HTH,

 

yeah. I tried that stuff haha. My whole pilot bearing had become one with the e-shaft. I grinded it down until the lip disappeare from the e-shaft and then installed the new one. It's centered and sits good. new clutch installed too. Doesn't move around and seems good compared to the s4 one I did 2 weeks ago

 

I just did my clutch about recently. I guess I got lucky. I bought the pilot puller at Harbor Freight--not the cheap one for $15, but the better one for around $35. It came out on the 3rd slide (wack).