What has been peoples experience with pilot bearings going bad? Mine went so bad that the shop is removing with a chisel and I'm afraid that the $cost of removal is going to be extreme and worse yet, I'm afraid that the result will require a rebuild of the engine.

How often do these things go bad and is it *likely* cost effective to spend the $1200 to replace the tranny shaft rather than just put in another used tranny?

How obvious are the symptoms that the bearing needs replacement before it self-destructs like mine has?
2-3 months ago I experience a "strange" sound and feel as I drove into the garage and it *seemed* to pull forward a bit with the clutch pedal depressed. Took it to the shop the next morning and they said that it was fine. Then 2 weeks ago there was additional strange metalic sounds and twice it refused to disengauge the clutch.

Has anyone had one self-destruct so completly that it resulted in a rebuild?

 

in my experience, the most telling sign it gave before it manifested in trouble engaging and disengaging gears, was a grinding noise that you heard when stopped at a light.

as for your situation now, i'd say get a used tranny if yours is beyond reasonable repair.

 

I also had to grind my pilot bearing out on my FD. My car was actually locking the trans and engine together making it impossible to shift. I am still running the engine and have had no problems.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Hopefully, tomorrow will tell good news.

 

I've popped several of them out with chisels. It takes a half hour if they are very stubborn. They should NOT be able to damage the engine in any way while getting the pilot bearing out. The pilot bearing failure really has nothing to do with the integrity of the trans unless the bearing failure caused the input shaft to be scored. At that point you have no choice but to replace the input shaft or trans all together. If they're going to do a whole rebuild for $1200 it's something to consider. But if that cost is simply to replace the input shaft just drop a used trans in. If they are disassembling the trans to the point of replacing the input shaft they have it down far enough to replace all the synchros and bearings without an additional charge for labor.

 

They tell me that the pilot bearing was destroyed to the point of sort-of welding the inside race to the eshaft hole. They have been working with a chisel for countless hours to remove pieces a bit at a time. Hopeing that they don't damage the eshaft and require a rebuild.

Does make sense what you said about the tranny.

 

If they've never tried to remove a pilot bearing from a rotary they might think it's welded in. The rotary has a pilot bearing quite different from anything else and they're a real bitch to get out. I saw your post on the other board and what other have said is good advice. Hit it with a die grinder and carbide bit. Cut most of the way through it to weaken it. Then pop it with a chisel or punch. The race is very hard and easy enough to shatter.

 

Does the flywheel need to be off to remove the pilot bearing ?

 

removed mine in about five minutes with the pineapple pilot bearing removal tool.