isaacac

Hey guys,

I just joined to see if you guys may have some advice on how the hell to get around this, I dropped the tranny on my 90 pickup (2wd - 22re) and pulled the pressure plate, clutch and after wrestling with bolts and breaker bars for a while I got the flywheel off.

I got to the pilot bearing and after digging around on a few different forums figured I'd try popping the bearing out using bread and a 3/8ths extension (3" extension)...

Well, I managed to get the extension stuck in the middle of the pilot bearing and it ain't going anywhere. I've hammered the crap out of it and tried prying it out with a large pry bar to no avail.

Anyhow, all I can think to try next would be maybe welding it to something I can get better leverage on? Any other ideas?

The best part about this is I ordered a pilot bearing puller and I was just too impatient to wait for it to get here, now I can't use it when it does get here lol.

Any sage wisdom would be appreciated. I should also note I have searched multiple forums for this scenario (including this forum's search option) and I haven't found anything.

rustED

iTrader: (2)

I did the same thing, only I used soaking wet strips of paper not bread, and it got stuck same as you, I think the grease trick is probably the best way to go. Anyway my buddy had my welder, so I had to use my Dremel and a small cut off wheel. took a lot of time, and you got to be careful and cut a little at a time and not to go to deep. The welder would have been my first choice, but didn't get a chance to try it, maybe someone else will chime in. Good luck!

isaacac

Well, it's nice to know I wasn't the first guy to do this, I assume you cut at the center of the bearing? Did it break and leave you with the outer chase still in? How long did it take you?

I was thinking of welding it to a chain and using a come-a-long to yank it out.

rustED

iTrader: (2)

Yep, the center of the bearing came out in pieces, leaving me with the outer chase, that's where I had to be careful and cut a little at a time not going to deep. Iwent back & forth between grinding and beating on it with a hammer and chisle, probably messed around with that for a couple hours before getting it out, can't remember exactly it was a few years back, lol. Hope it goes smoother for you, maybe after your done welding the bearing will be heated up enough that it will make it come out easier!

wyoming9

iTrader: (1)

Have you learned your lesson? I think we all have been here a time or two it is when you keep coming back.

Blind hole pullers work so nice.

I would bet the extension is now Mushroomed enough it is not coming out.

Myself I would weld what ever size piece of all thread my slide hammer fit making sure to rotate the engine to get good welds all around .



If you don`T have a slide hammer my next thing would be to build a puller to pull it out of there.

I sure would not want to be any place close taking up tension on a come-along when it pops not only the cable but the piece come flying at you.

Bunch of different ways you can go. Just don`t get hurt.

isaacac

lol oh man have I ever lol, I ended up hitting it with a dremel then using a screw driver and hammer to move all the bearings to one side, then hammering the shaft of the extension towards the empty side and pop, they all came out, that sucker is still stuck on the extension and I think I'll keep it there to remind me of my own stupidity.

I'm going to wait for my damn puller to show up and use it to pull off the outer chase.

I just can't wait to put my truck back together, I got hit twice in two days at the beginning of the month and it gave me the leverage with the old lady to fix all the things I've wanted to; getting new exhaust system from the headers back, new intake, entirely new front end from the radiator fan out (idiot made a left turn into the front of my truck after cutting off a bus - the other idiot managed to hit me while turning out of a parking spot and got his tundra stuck on my bed.) new brakes, obviously the clutch/flywheel/etc.

Luckily the payout from both insurance companies is covering most of what I'm doing. I just want to see how she drives after all that work. Since I've had it the clutch has been pretty damn tired and the exhaust was terrible. As soon as I get the transmission back in I'm throwing on an OBX header, magnaflow cat, summit two chamber muffler and a custom bent 2.25" pipe to the rear. (It'll be 2.25" from the collector through to the back) and a 3" short ram intake. The engine was rebuilt a few years back (only around 3-5k miles put on it since) and that included shaving the head and boring it 20 over. So I figure the engine may perk up a bit with some extra breathing. I'm not expecting it to be a race car or anything but the waiting is still killing me