Holy Crap It Works!

This is probably old news to those who do it a lot, but I just found out about it, tried it, and it works!

Pilot bearing removal using paper and water.

Tear up a sheet of old newspaper and get it wet.

Find a socket or round stock that will slide easily into your pilot bearing. I used a 1/2 inch deep socket and placed it onto an extension. If you use a socket you have to stop the paper from going into it, so place a bolt in the end.

Start packing some of the wet paper into the bearing until full.

Place your socket with bolt, round stock or whatever your gonna use into the bearing.

Pack the paper by hitting the end of your extension with a hammer.

Take it out and put some more wet paper in there ... Pack it again with the hammer.

Continue this process and the paper will start pushing the bearing out! The more you pack the more it comes until it falls right out.

In my case, the half inch socket was a bit too small and metric to big. Once the wet paper started working it's way around the socket I put a penny in there. Perfect, that sealed it up nice and the bearing came on out.

If you have to go this route, get as much paper packed in first or you won't have enough behind the penny to push the bearing out and I imagine it would be a pain in the **** to get the penny out before the bearing to add more paper!

Hopefully this will help someone doing a pilot bearing for their first time ... It sure helped me.

Google is your friend!





Note ... a pilot bearing removal tool would be your best bet .... I used what I had.


Sent from my iPhone4 using TJJ

iPOLYFRIED 35

 

cool...............

 

we used to use axle grease and a snug fitting dowel.

 

I have always used grease, but this looks to be a much less messy method of getting the job done.
Bob

 

Absolutely. Great trick. The fluid, whether it be grease or water, is incompressible. The bearing moves instead. Good work

 

I saw that one online as well and it looked like it worked great but messy, especially if your dowel or socket was a bit small. I had wet paper splattering me in the face, I couldn't imagine grease LOL

 

Thanks for sharing

 

slide hammers can be used for so many other things, that I just can't imagine using anything else more than once. That being said - nice solution.

dj

 

This is fantastic !!!

I have always used grease too, and made an awful mess.
I believe child's play putty works pretty good as well, but wet paper is BRILLIANT.

 

Cool, thanks.

 

Use a short socket, or your long if its a straight thru and plug you extension in backwards, eliminates the bolt, get results quicker

 

Thanks, great post...........

 

It's the simple solutions that often elude us ... great idea, thanks!

 

I was taught to just use grease. Beats wadding up a bunch of wet paper.

 

I'll have to try the wet paper, always used grease also and will have to agree with the mess. Another trick is to use a dowel / socket or roundstock that is slightly smaller than the pilot bushing, wrap it with electrical tape to bring it up to a tight fit. That way you wont squrit grease all over the place or damage the bushing if you were planing on reusing it.

 

cool tip. i'll try this next time instead of the grease. thank you

 

always used grease, will have to try water next time

 

A lot of us poor boys don't have a slide hammer and there is always newspaper laying around or wheel bearing grease and something the right size to stick in the hole and wack with a hammer. Actually, I've usually had better luck with the grease than a puller.

 

Wheelbearing greese is what we usually use.

 

Your going to laugh but I use a Tampax, go ahead you can laugh now!!

 

That's cool joecool! Tampax, a hundred and one uses............now, a hundred and two...wait that's duct tape! peace

 

I use peanut ****er, mmm...

 

What exactly for ?

 

I've used grease for over 40 years to do this and I never had it splatter on me. The thing I like about this method, whether it's with grease or paper or whatever is that it doesn't damage the hole. If a slide hammer's lug is a tiny bit too long it can s****e the sides of the hole. This method is pretty much foolproof and quick............

 

There's got to be some way to do this job with dryer sheets. They seem to work for everything else!

 

we always used grease , and then just put the extra on the flywheel to keep it from rusting l.o.l

 

Mr 48chev, I agree. Thanks ( Polyfried 35 ) for sharing.
We poor boys had to use a lot of " ingenuity and what ever we had lying around". When I was a teenager, if I did not figure a way to fix my vehicle, I did not ride!

"Do all you have agreed to do "

 

Thanks yeh!

 

I have seen this done but with a bar of soap. Shave pieces of soap and pack in the hole. Work pretty good.

 

Always used grease, and since it was always on a Chevrolet, the ratchet end of a Craftsman 3/8" drive extension; it's the same size as the pilot bearing shaft on the trans input shaft. Butch/56sedandelivery.