Idiots guide to pilot bearing removal
 

Title says it all. I usually remove the pilot bearing with a screwdriver and dremel motor. But I tired of this approach the other day.

I saw where for a mere 112bucks MAZDATRIX will sell me a puller. Uh, sorry, not me. So I went to HARBOR FREIGHT, a seller of high grade Chinese tools. I picked up a A-One puller for sixteen bucks. How proud I was of my find.

Only problem is the poor thing wouldn't work. Outside of that it has a nice red carton and the pieces are bright and shiney (like a fish lure). The hooks on the puller wouldn't catch on the fwd edge of the bearing race. I tried a number of times. NG

So while watching M.Schumacher race to second place thru attrition, I had a fine idea. I installed the puller in the bearing. Then I melted some plumbers solder in a tin cup and poured it into the bearings bore and let it set for three or four minutes.

About three slams of the slide hammer and the bearing came up about three quarters of the way. Uh, no fourth slam because the handle on the slide hammer broke off. I think the steel was made during the Cultural Revolution back in the seventies. A pair of vise grips and one blow from the roofing hammer and walla, the bearing is out.

Jpg attached of the result. It only makes sense to folk who have used a pilot bearing remover.

Lol...

You've been breathing too much solder flux...

So the moral of the story...BTW, pretty funny you're slamming the Chinese, who now OWN our asses (and our childrens' asses)...Go spend some money and get the right tooling for the job, maybe?

FWIW, I've successfully removed two in my lifetime using nothing more than a small chisle and hammer...

FYI, local auto parts stores such as Kragen/Schucks/Checkers, Pep Boys, Auto Zone rent tools and they work fine and cost you nothing but you have to pay for the tool and are refunded your money when you return it.

works much better than cheap china tools IMO and cheaper...

I've heard those tools have to be modified to work, though. I searched about this a while ago and the consensus was for the Schucks/etc. pilot bearing tool had to be ground down slightly and modified to work.

Why not pack grease in there and hit the shaft? Allways worked for me.

I probably could have shaped the edges for a better fit.

Both PepBoys and Autozone did not have one this morning. Something about how the last fellow didn't return them.

I'm sticking with melted solder and broken Chinese tools. I only pull pilot bearings when the engine is out of the car and it only took ten minutes after I got my act together. Plus I've got sixteen bucks tied up in my investment.

I think this method could have worked with a threaded rod with a washer at the bottom and a hammer and vise grips.

No, I don't recommend it for anyone else, but it was and is a bunch faster than the dremel motor and screwdriver/chisel method. Also no scoring of the shaft.

Attached is a jpg of the puller mittout der solder covering up things.

This was not and is not a serious post. Sort of like all of Wayne's posts. humor,please

when i removed my pilot bearing i have a little hydraulic tappet remover tool. and it worked just fine and popped the bearing out in two wacks

Not ALL of them...I'm serious every now and then :)

i have used the Kragen puller on 2 occasions and it worked fine both times.

The Dub is right as can be seen in the attached jpg. The two hooks are not and cannot be made square with the *other* side of the race unless I remove some material where their two heads butt against each other. I didn't have a new bearing to look at prior to the removal of the old bearing so I didn't have a clue.

Yeah. But you don't have a three piece (now four piece ) puller of your own with it's bright shiney red plastic carton. Nope, noting quite like owning your own bright shiney, broken tools.

more is better right? :D

the autozone puller jaws are to large to fit the FC pilot bearing

I rent the same one from autozone everytime, because its already grinded down for the rotary :). Its like 12 bucks, i should have just kept it...its a hell of a lot stronger than your china brand one...

Well this hilarious thread actually ended having good information, that's weird. I give you an A+ for creativity with poopy tools, HAILERS.

Yeah, I made the autozone one fit too.

To bangs of the slide hammer and the bearing shot out in a million pieces....

James

This is a copy/paste from a post I made a few months back. It's a method for a cheap/easy tool you can make for the pilot bearing. I can make it quicker than I can drive to Autozone to borrow the proper tool. Some day I will take some pictures so that I can illustrate it better.

Grind enough of the head off about a 4" bolt, so that the head will fit in the space behind the pilot bearing (the bolt must be long enough to protrude from the eccentric shaft).

Find a washer with a diameter that is larger than the inside diameter of the outer race, and slightly larger than the inside diameter of the eccentric shaft. Grind it to an elliptical shape so that the minor diameter of the ellipse is smaller than the inside diameter of the outer race, and the major diameter is very slightly smaller than the inside diameter of the eccentric shaft. When you put the washer on the bolt, you want it to lay back on the bolt at about a 45* angle--when it does so, the washer's profile will be smaller than the inside diameter of your pilot bearing. You may have to increase the inner diameter of the washer to get it to lay back properly.

Put the washer on the bolt, and lean it back at the 45* angle so that you can insert it into the bearing. Use a pick to push it through the bearing until the top and bottom edges of the washer have cleared the inside edge of of the bearing. Now, when you pull the bolt back toward you, the bottom edge of the washer will catch the bearing, and the washer will pull up straight until the top edge catches.

You now have a grip on the inside edges of the bearing. Just put a big washer on the protruding end of the bolt, and add a nut. When you tighten the nut, it will pull the bolt and bearing out with it. I use a large socket between the nut and the shaft, so that I can pull the bearing completely out of the shaft and into the socket.

One picture would explain this much more clearly than I can. But think through what I'm saying. It takes about 5 minutes to make this puller, it costs almost nothing, and it works. Maybe I should patent it.

sorry for digging this up, but can u get a picture of some sort?

I bought one of these a few days ago on sale for $20. After coming to terms with the fact that I actually found an item I need on sale when I needed it, I put it to work. I didn't get a real good hold on the bearing the first time I used it and seperated the inner part of the bearing, but a 2nd shot worked perfectly.

http://www.princessauto.com/prodimages/CAN/2927762.gif

I got mine from Princess Auto in Canada but I recall seeing the same item in the JC Whitney catalog some time ago.

Sorry, but I'm out of town, and can't take a picture. I will try to do so soon, though.

But, here's the concept. Just think about it, and you'll see what I mean.

You need to stick about a 4" bolt into the eccentric shaft head first. The head needs to clear the inside edge of the pilot bearing, and there's not much room behind it, so you need to grind the head down until it's real skinny (you can probably use a round head machine screw instead of the bolt, and avoid grinding)

Now, take a washer that has a diameter that is larger than the inside diameter of the pilot bearing. If you grind each side of the washer down enough, you can lay it flat and insert it into the bearing. Now, take the washer, and grind its top and bottom enough so that it is smaller than the inside diameter of the hole in the eccentric shaft, but larger than the inside diameter of the pilot bearing.

The idea is to insert the bolt head first, put the washer on the bolt, and lay it back enough so that it clears the inner diameter of the pilot bearing. Slide it all the way back until both the top and bottom edge of the washer go past the pilot bearing and into the cavity behind it.

Now, if you pull back on the bolt, it will pull the washer until the bottom edge catches on the bottom of the pilot bearing race. Continue to pull, and the washer will straighten up to its full height in vertical position, and engage the top edge of the pilot bearing. Now, you've got it!

At this point, you can just clamp some vice grips on the threaded end of the bolt, which should be protruding from the bearing, and then tap the vice grips with the hammer to pull it out. I've never done it that way, for fear of bending the washer and losing its grip on the bearing. What I do is put a large washer on the bolt, and add a nut. When I tighten the nut down, it pulls the bolt toward the open end of the shaft, which pulls the washer and the bearing along with it.

The only problem with this method is that it won't work if you don't have adequate clearance behind the pilot bearing. I'm 3 for 3 doing it this way, including a factory-installed bearing, so I've been lucky.

I'm telling ya, you can make this thing faster than I typed this epic. Just remember, it's based on the principal that things aren't as tall when they're leaning as they are when they're standing straight up. That's why leaning the washer and inserting it works.

I hope this helps!

I just left harbor freight, they got a helluvadeal on a dremel-type electric tool with something like 44 attachments for around $9!
Almost got it.....been wanting a dremel.

i used this tool to but the tool is a bit too big for the bearing, so i grinded that down a bit, but still not abole to get that out yet
will give that another try when i have more time to work on the car tomorrow

One of the guys in the club has the Mazdatrix puller, oh what a nice tool it is.

We used to use a die grinder but if you went too far you distroyed the shaft, the puller is the best thing if you can afford it, we have our origonal one for 10+ years now and it still keeps going... we offer them forale too

The stock puller > *