Pilot Bushing ? for the masses.

Manual transmission cars can have either. 99 percent of foreign stuff uses a pilot bearing, 99 percent of American stuff ,That I 've seen, used a pilot bushing

 

You were supposed to be my guinea pig. It worked well on the slave cylinder, not so much on the upper radiator hose and timing light. Lol

 

Oh how the tables have turned

 

I have seen this failure at it's worst. Was on an old high mileage Mazda pickup. The complaint was the clutch would not release. New clutch parts and still no release. Then found you push the clutch in and the front crank pulley pushes out more than a 1/4 inch. The crankshaft thrust bearing was gone completely.

 

I use to see that several times a year people brought their stuff in for machine work we had to call them back with the bad news.I normally don't even talk about crankshaft end play. Because normally all you get in return is blank stares.

 

Well I learned something new mainly because I never thought about it. I'm glad I asked. Regarding the thrust bearing, now I think I know why my daily beater truck (00 nissan frontier) doesn't like slipping into gear anymore despite having the trans rebuilt a few years ago. I wonder what the thrust bearing looks like after 319, 000 miles?

 

That would explain the piles of clutches I have on shelves. My grandpa drove log truck, too. He was a notorious person for riding the clutch let alone and I bet he wanted to move the lever as little as possible so if a stop came up I bet he sat in 1 with clutch in

 

Bad Grandpa...like the movie?

 

Why a bushing for an automatic? The flexplate bolts up to the crank, and the torque converter bolts to the flexplate. There is no interaction from the flexplate to the pilot bushing in the crankshaft. Whereas the input shaft of a manual transmission goes right into the pilot bushing. I have never used a pilot bearing in my manual transmissions, and have never had any issues with the pilot bushings.

 

Or the pilot bushing/bearing needs replaced.

 

Makes sense. I stand corrected. It's been a loooong time! I'm getting ready to find out again. TH350 is bleeding like it has a porous case.

 

I can think of why. But if I tell you then it's going to be 3 days of B.S. back and forth, people dropping cats, people throwing cats, good bread being wasted. It's just not worth it, think of the poor cats.

 

LOL...that never happens...

I was curious so I looked up flex plate in images, and there is a big hole to fit on the crank, and then the 6 bolt holes to bolt it up to the crank. I don't recall seeing a nipple on the engine-side of the torque converter. If there isn't a nipple, the pilot bushing is just there as an ornament that never gets seen.

I want to know what your reasoning is, but I also understand if you don't want to go down that rabbit hole.

 

Under my 81, same. It only leaks when it isn't driven, and the vortec setup doesn't like my short drives in the wintertime, so it sits and bleeds out.

 

Vortec with TBI?