Stick car, too much clutch?

[Rory McNeil]

Originally Posted by 69Cobra

Yes for some reason I've had the same issues with pilot bearings. Matter of fact the only "breakage" I've had on my jerico was from the pilot bearing coming out of the crank which let the input do whatever it wanted. It ended up breaking the back of the input where the snap ring goes and swelled the front bearing retainer to the point that I couldn't remove the tranny because it wouldn't slide out of the T.O. bearing. I was thinking about using some hi temp silicone to help hold it in their the next time. Let me know how the loc tite did for ya.

About 6 or 7 years ago, I had a very simillar experiance with my Fairmont. Unknown to me, I guess the pilot had fallen out for quite a while, and on 1 pass, when I pushed in the clutch pedal for 3rd gear, the engine started shaking terribly. I guess with the bearing not doing its job, the input shaft was free to move up and down, and eventually the disc cracked around the hub, and allowed the hub section to break away from the rest of the disc. The outer section got all caught up inside the scattershield, snapped off the starter nose cone, deformed the bellhousing, and like you, when I went to remove the trans, it only came part way out, because the bearing retainer had become bell mouthed, and wouldn`t allow the retainer to slip thru the throw out bearing. The bellhousing, and everything inside it were ruined.Not a pretty sight!