Technical Speed Gems pilot bearing stuck in crankshaft

I have a 303 Olds that has a Speed Gems pilot bearing adapter in the crankshaft. I bought a trans adapter from Ross Racing to mount a T5 transmission. Tony sent a different pilot bearing to use with this, so I need to remove the Speed Gems adapter. I used a bearing splitter to grab the adapter and made a rod to fit through the bearing hole so the puller screw had something to push against as seen in the photos to pull the adapter out. No luck with this, I only managed to bend the 3/4" thick bar bolted to the splitter. I even tried heating the crank end to expand the hole but the adapter was still not coming out.
I even tried the hydraulic method. I filled the cavity with silly putty and hammered a close fitting rod thru the hole and managed to drive out the bronze bearing part. I made a larger rod to fit the hole left by the bearing and hammered that in, but the adapter still won't budge.
I have a feeling I'm going to have to mount the crank in my lathe and machine it out.
Anyone have any other ideas or methods to get this out.

 

Crazy question. Does that adapter have an actual thru hole?

 

Yeah the hole goes thru to the back of the crank.

 

Can you rig something on a slide hammer that will catch it from inside?

 

I would try to split the br*** with a peice of hacksaw blade. Maybe use an 1/8" drill bit and go straight on the edge first.

 

That's a good idea. Now that the bronze bushing is out I have more room to get in there and grab the back of it.
I'll look at that tomorrow and see if I can make something to fit inside and attach to my slide hammer.
Thanks.

 

If you don't want it I would cut it off then heat with a torch then let cool and remove.
Edit ] don't heat the crank...cut out the bushing first then cut off the flange of the adapter and heat a orange hot strip down the remainder of the piece let cool then you should be able to pick it out.

 

I was able to get the br***-bronze piece out. The part that's still stuck is steel.

 

Advance,autozone and others loan out a tool for that also.

 

Thanks Tex, your right I just did a search for slide hammer bearing puller. I'm gonna try that. I'd like to save this in case anyone needs it.
FYI it's a Speed Gems MPLS 63 A pilot bearing adapter.

 

Freeze it! Not the crank, the "adapter". Then try pulling it. Maybe just bolt everything up, tighten as much as you can, then walk away for a day or so. Tighten up on it again, and repeat. Add some vibration. If that don't help............................................................
You must have a pretty big lathe. I am Butch/56sedandelivery.

 

I wish I had some liquid nitrogen to freeze and shrink it. I did leave the splitter on under tension over night but nothing happened. I even tried beating on it with a br*** punch but that didn't help.
I already did a trial run in the lathe in case I have to resort to machining it out.

 

Tap it and run a big bolt into it

 

Another why didn't I think of that idea. I do have some big taps. All my big taps are co**** thread 1" x 8tpi, a fine thread bolt would give more pulling force.

 

With the bronze bushing out heat the adapter on the inside until red, it it cant expand because the crank is surrounding it and should shrink as it cools.

 

I had the same issue on a 401 nailhead crank. Also a speed gems pilot bearing.
I finally drilled some 1/8" holes and used a short hacksaw blade to cut through it.
Once the hacksaw blade get almost completely through the tension released and it came out.
Very tedious but I was very determined. Like you I had already tried the normal tricks.

 

Now that you mentioned that, I have welded on the ID of parts before and when the weld bead cooled and shrank the part came loose.
Another option to try. Thanks

 

I'll try the slide hammer idea first since it's non destructive and I can get the tool tomorrow.
If that don't work I'll try something else.
As a last resort I'll bore out most of the piece on the lathe to relieve some of the tension and maybe be able to tap or pull out the remaining part.
Thanks guys lots of good ideas to try.
I'll check back in the morning in case anyone posted more ideas, time for me to get some sleep.
Thanks

 

Before going nite, nite, stand crank on end and fill hole with Kcroil...............................

 

If you have to cut a relief in it to take the tension off I have used the little chain saw sharpening stones sold for Dremel tool to gently cut through the steel. They cut real well as long as you don't put pressure on them as they snap real easy. It's a lot faster than a hack saw blade.

 

I wonder if the original installer used red lock***e on that adapter. Normally, that will loosen up with some torch heat. I think you’ve got some good suggestions to work with. Let us know how it worked out.

 

Nice lathe, do you have a mill? Clamp the crank to the side of the table and drill out the adapter. Might be easier than setting it all up in a lathe, but I guess you already did that.

And since you have a lathe and the adapter is stuck, could you just turn down the new bearing?

 

I would hang it off the Bridgeport table and mill a couple of slots close to the crank-mating surface. Then it should come out with a small chisel and hammer. Hardest part would be making up a plate to mount it to the table.

 

Use arasol spray for cleaning computer keyboards, hold can upside down and spray, liquid propellant comes out and freezes piece. Works great on small parts

Sent from my SM-G930V using The H.A.M.B. mobile app

 

Could tap it back in and try pulling it out, repeat a few times and I bet it comes out.

Stand it up on end and fill it with vinegar for a few days, that will eat the rust.
Use a Stronger acid if you know how and you want to go quicker.

 

The stuff you can try is "freezer spray", used to find intermittents in electronic circuits. It's basically liquid refrigerant.

 

This is what I was thinking as I read the thread. I use this method all the time on Harley steering head bearings, and they normally just fall out after cooling. It does destroy the piece, but it's easy enough to spin up another one on that lathe you have the crank mounted in.

 

A few times I've used a method described a few posts earlier-
cut one or two grooves inside the bushing as if you were making a keyway groove. The "keyway" grooves take the tension off the press-fit, and the bushing falls out, or pulls out very easily.
If the steel bushing is too hard to hacksaw cut, or jigsaw cut, you may have to grind your groove with a chainsaw sharpening stone as also mentioned earlier.
I have used that method a number of times and know it works well.
I usually have to cut the groove deep, within a hair of touching the crank wall, sometimes two grooves opposite each other, but it has always worked.
It takes the tension off the press fit without putting the crank in any danger of damage.

WHY BE ORDINARY ?

 

If you want to try and freeze it just get a can of 134 A freon

 

If you have the crank out get it in a press and support your bearing spliter and press away.