i have a 96 lt1 6 speed man, how do i get the pilot bearing out?

 

You're going to thing this weird but there is a way with wet paper. Get a drift near the diameter of the input shaft. Fill the cavity behind the pilot bearing with the wet paper, tamping it in with the drift. As you smash the wet paper in there it will force the bearing out. You'll need a hammer...you're trying to generate a hydraulic force.

Best paper..toilet tissue, believe it or not....chuckle.

After the bearing pops out you can get the paper out with a needle nose pliers or a hook tool....

 

Yes the TP does work but its still a PITA on a really stuck bushing. If its a bearing, TB will not work cause the bearing is way tighter than a bushing.

Best thing is to go to Autozone if you have one and rent a slide hammer and a pilot bushing jaw puller and it comes out in seconds with little pain. There are likely other stores that rent similar tools.

 

A 3/8 extension fit in there perfect for me- I think it was a Craftsman. Either of the listed methods will work.

The TP method you will use WAY more than you ever thought possible to cram in there. So just keep packing away until the bushing comes out.

 

I'd like to point out that I did use the tp method on the needle bearing replacement used in later f-bodies that is now the factory replacement for all...it does work.

I also tried to rent a proper puller and couldn't find one that would fit in there. For me the only choice is the crude method. You can soak the bushing/bearing with penetrating oil before the wet paper method to help ease things along...

 

Yep you can stuff half a roll of soaking wet TP in there.

With reagrds to the correct puller that goes on the slide hammer. I realized recently I was using the puller wrong and thought it was just the wrong one. You have to remove the pin for one of the jaws first. Put the two jaws in the bushing then replace the pin. Now it fits right and its comes right out.

 

Grease works too. Same princable. However never try on an LS1

 

We couldn't find the right puller either and decided to modify the puller, got it in the pilot bearing and it kept sliding out taking metal with it. We were about to give up when we read this thread. I never would have guessed that wet toliet paper would push the bushing out. It wasn't even hard, came out like a breeze. Only way to go!!!

 

Yeah it does. Make a huge ****ing mess though.

 

If you don't have a tight seal into the pilot and use grease it has a tendency to shoot out...and like was said...make a huge mess.

 

Go to autozone and rent a blind bearing removal tool. It is a slap hammer type device that has expanding jaws in it. You expand the jaws inside the pilot bearing till it is tight, then use the slap hammer to pull it out, takes about 5 minutes and there is no mess afterward. Return the tool to autozone and get your money back.


hth

andy schuck