I'm in the stages of planning a clutch replacement and have done a bunch of searching on this site and others. Great information here, but one thing that I want to ask is:

Why can't I just remove the flywheel first (with the pilot), and then use a press or puller (what have you) to remove the pilot bearing?

I've read the trick about pounding grease to remove the pilot, and also on the special tool. But since the consensus seems to be that you should resurface the flywheel (and hence remove it) I don't understand why you have to struggle removing the pilot from the flywheel while it's on the truck.

What am I missing here? Does the pilot bearing also press fit into the crankshaft or something?

Thanks

 

The pilot bearing is not part of, attached to, or inside of the flywheel. You remove the flywheel and the pilot bearing is left on the truck. I used the grease trick the first time, it worked, but it was messy. Go to autozone, they will rent you a puller for free.

 

i tried a puller w/o sucess and then used the grease trick.
nuthin like a lesson in hydraulics to make a simple job easy.

the bearing is to keep the tranny input aligned w/ the motor

 

aka: to give you a hard time when you have to put the tranny back in.

 

Many thanks.

 

ive used grease a couple of times. doesnt save me any time to go rent the puller....