nkennedy

My neighbor is a transmission mechanic, and a Ford guy. He keeps telling me I need to replace the Pilot Bearing in my clutch before it fails. Do these fail often? Is it damaging to the trans if it does? Thanks for the info.

patdaly

First I have heard of it, perhaps it is a Ford thing.....

Junk Man

Lots of vehicles have pilot bearings that support the input shaft where it goes into the fly wheel. I didn't see one in the FSM as it relates to the NV4500 but they need to be changed with the clutch if they are there. Apparently not an issue for Rams. Now we can go back to fixing the steering, fuel & cracked dash.

johnh

it's not a common problem

nkennedy

I kind of thought maybe it was a common Ford problem as he is a Ford guy, but he does transmissions on all makes. I didn't think it was a problem for us, but thought I'd ask as he's always bringing it up. I haven't read much about it on this forum though, and a search didn't bring up much either.

patdaly

Just so we are clear, if you have the trans out for a Clutch, ALWAYS replace the Pilot Bearing, without fail.

But I have heard of very few losing a Pilot Bearing out of the blue causing them to pull a trans.............

nkennedy

If I pull the trans out for a clutch I'm going with the Southbend ball bearing pilot bearing.

Junk Man

Are you saying that you confirmed either by looking at the truck or in the FSM that there is a pilot bearing? There is no mention of a pilot bearing in the 01 FSM relating to the NV4500 clutch.

patdaly

Look on page 6-17 and 6-18 of the 2001 FSM, there is a whole section on the pilot bearing...........

cLAYH

If you have a manual tranny then you have a pilot bearing....

torquefan

I have removed several NV4500s that had too much wear on the input shaft to re-use it, just because of the pilot bearing drying out and overheating. My own clutch is still original and working well, but I am contemplating pulling it apart just to replace the pilot bearing before it can damage the input shaft. After 14 years, it's probably due.

bentwings

Mine failed and wore the end of the input shaft down. If I would have had a place to work I'd have turned the shaft down a bit more and made a hardend sleeve and pressed it on. Old school fix. As it was the clutch disc exploded and wiped out the pressure plate and release bearing. Made a nice mess in the middle of the night, cold and snow.

New clutch works good but took a couple 1000 miles to seat in. Then the hydraulics went out. Easiest fix on the truck. Took longer to jack the truck up than it did to install the hyd unit.

imbodie

I just recently had to have a new clutch installed, my transmission guy said the pilot bearing failed. The clutch still had some life left on it and I guess it was still useable but we changed it with a complete clutch kit from Luke??
-Tim

dozer12216

The only time there is any movement/wear potential is setting at stop light. If clutch not slipping, bearing not seeing any action.. Unless tranny input is not aligned with crankshaft. You recall those two dowels in bellhousing. If they miss, big trouble follows.

cLAYH

So I pulled the tranny on my 2003 today so see if maybe a bad pilot bearing is causing my hard to get into gear issues. Sure enough the pilot bearing is a bit rough.

I had replaced the clutch about 30,000kms ago but the SB clutch kit that I ordered came without pilot bearing even though when I ordered it I was told it did so I didn't order one seperatly. I had to go back together over a long weekend and I couldn't get a new one. The old one felt fine so I repacked it with synthetic grease and reused it.

Oh well live and learn. Hopefully the new pilot bearing will make it slip into gear easier....

I bought the replacemnt from the dealer and it came packed in a white grease, should I add any more or just use it as is?