I'm looking for any suggestions/tricks on removing the old pilot berring from my crank. I have a pilot berring removal tool which I'm using but after about a hour of pounding on the berring with the puller in its stock form I made some mods to it as outlined in Dopes C5 clutch install which was basicly replacing the slide hammer shaft with 2 feet of all thread which gives way more impact at the jaws then the stock puller config. Well 5 hours later and that mother still has not moved. I thought about heating the end of the crank up but am worried it will screw up the rear seal. I'm out of ideas. HELP!

 

My dad told me that on the older cars they used to pack the end of the crank behind the bearing solid with grease and then place a tight fitting piece of stock in the hole and hit it with a hammer to hydraulicly pop the bearing loose. Not sure if the design on these engines is similar or not.

Chris

 

Done it many times.

 

DO NOT DO THE OLD GREASE IN THE BEARING METHOD!!!!!!!!Your crank is hollow and has welsh plugs in the ends!! If you use that method, you will rupture the plug and have a massive oil leak!!!

I had to be corrected as I once recommended this method also!

If you used that method, I strongly recommend making sure that the plug is intact!!

Bill

 

 

Thanks for the heads up on the old grease packing method, I have used it sucssesfully many times in the past but not on the LSx moters. The caution is deffenitly worth posting for those folks who dont know about the plug. I'm off to the hardware store now to get a few items which I hope will further improve the berring puller then its back to pounding away.

 

Thanks for the correction!

 

Snap-on has the tool,
just ten min for me to remove my pilot shaft bearing.
I also followed Dope's clutch install, (THANKS, THANKS, THANKS, to DOPE), but borrowed a bearing puller from a (PART STOP) friend, the tool has a 10 mm? center plunger to spread the claws and a 20 mm? nut to back the bearing out.
the first 5 min was learning to tighten the 10 mm center shaft to spread the claws, then simply turned the 20 mm nut slowly, and it backed the bearing out.
If I ever have to change the clutch again I will buy the tool whatever the price.
Luck Norm

 

Norm

Thanks! Very COOL info!!


Bill C

 

Norm,

Can you provide a Snap-On tool number or something? Sounds like the right tool for this job.

Thanks

 

Not sure if this helps but this is the tool I used. I rented it from the local auto parts store. I didnt have to modify it at all and the pilot bearing came right out. DO NOT use the style with the 2 prong split end things, they work horrible. If you look at the tool I used, it has a 4 way split at the end, you screw down to expand the holder, and ensures it will not come out when you are hammering away.

 

I cannot agree with you more, whatever the cost of the Snap-on puller is it would be worth it. Next time I see a Snap-on truck I'm going to flag the guy over and order one. In the mean time I was finally able to get the berring out with the crappy puller I had. It's the same puller Dope used with a couple more mods to it.

1) The All-thread which serves as the shaft for the hammer and expands the jaws when threaded into the jaw head is to soft and would deform so I wasn't able to get the jaws tight enough. This is where I added a 3" long 1/2-13 grade 8 hardend bolt with the head cut off and ground to a cone. The cone is the buissiness end which expands the jaws, the threaded portion of the bolt went through the jaw head and was connected to the All-thread with a hex shaped 1/2-13 threaded coupler.
The hex coupler provided a convent way to turn the All-thread/hardend bolt assy.

2)The casting on the jaws was prity sloppy, where the jaw makes it's >90 degree angle transition was not a good clean angle but actualy conxex so the jaw could never really catch and hold the lip of the berring. A few min. with a Dremel tool to get a nice sharp angle on the jaws and another 50 or so pounds later sucsess.

Sorry I don't have pictures of the modified puller but I don't think anyone would want to use it any way. Thanks for the Snap-on puller information Norm. As alway this board is a great resorce for the do it yourselfer.

Dave D

 

anyone have a link to dope's clutch install

 

http://fear.net/~dope/c5_clutch_install_pics.html

 

without reading the thread...

when doing my clutch job i had to remove mine with a dremel tool. i ground the top and bottom of it till it fell apart. i talked to the previous owner who installed the thing and he said they had to beat the @#$* out of it to get it in, no way it was coming out in one piece

 

I could not find the tool i used from snap-on, here is the same tool but rather than a 10mm shaft it uses a cross bar to open the jaws, otherwise same tool.
Model # 648619 Pilot Bearing Puller
http://www.powerbuilttools.com/Power...ier=COMMERCIAL
Norm