Pilot bearing removal when everything else has failed?? (13 Viewers)

[flyngcrane]

So I am in the process of cluth replacement in my FJ62 with a manual transmission swap already done long long time ago. Everything is going smoothly until I get to my pilot bearing. Tried all methods so far and am left with the bearing still in place. The front and back face plate to it are gone and several bearings are missing. But both rings are still in place and I can see right through it. But I cant get the damn thing out. I used a puller tool and the prongs won't catch on the inside ring and just ends up being pulled through it. Its no longer sealed so I cant use pressure from grease or bread any more. So im down to figuring out how to cut it out im guessing? Or perhaps heating it up?
Would appreciate any help anyone could give. Ill post pics tomorrow when im back at it.

 

[ff347]

Have you tried bread? Search it on YouTube

 

[flyngcrane]

Already tried. The bread is what pushed out the outer plate covering the bearings. But everything else stayed put.

 

[batthewmrown]

Have you tried a slide hammer? I've had luck with the one you can rent from Auto Zone when I obliterated a bearing and only had the outer ring to grab onto. Good luck, that's some frustrating s***.

 

[aztoyman]

I have a drawer full of "special" puller adapters I had to modify or fabricate for stuff like this. It sucks to have to grind, heat and bend or weld on a nice puller. Sometimes ya do what ya gotta do to get things apart.

I just spent most of a day trying to get my steering wheel off my non Toyota so I could replace the steering angle sensor/clock spring. I HAD the PROPER puller. It broke. And it was a vintage OTC American made one. I tried 4 different "custom made" puller fingers before I got it to pop loose. One more special puller tool added to the drawer.

Sounds like you may have to make something that will grab. If you can get the rest of the balls out and the inner ring, you might be able to get a grip on the outer or maybe be able to cut it??

Good luck with it!!

 

[flyngcrane]

Yeah the pullers i got from autozone one wouldn't fit the inner ring diameter. And the one that does fit is the one that won't grip and ends up pulling through. I thought about gridning more of a right angle on it to grip better but its not my tool...(yet) lol. I like the idea of trying the slide hammer on the outer ring if I can get the middle out. Ideally all out at once would be great! Lol

 

[aztoyman]

If you have room, wedge a bolt or nail or something between the two legs of the tool as close to the fingers and bearing as you can. Sometimes it will keep it from popping out.

 

[flyngcrane]

Nice. Ill give that a go. I saw a video of a guy using wet toilet paper like the "bread" option and he had paper pushing out between the ball bearings in the end so he lost that front plate as well and still worked. Not sure if mine will do the same with so many ball bearings missing. Or if ill be left with a a mess and a still stuck bearing lol

 

[OSS]

I would try a slide hammer with possibly modified jaws

 

[tmxmotorsports]

Seen this on Instagram just a few minutes ago

 

[brian]

Knock more bearings out of it, remove the inner race and the cage. Then give the id of the outer race a few pecks with the mig gun.

 

[flyngcrane]

And the W goes to Aztoyman. Your suggestion of Sliding a small screw/nail in between the puller tool arms when it was set. Totally prevented it from closing enough to slide through the ring like it had been doing on the previous trys! Thing came right out 1st try with that addition!
So thanks a TON man!
I thought id be cutting it out some how for sure last night when I got back at it today.
Appreciate all the suggestions I knew I'd find a solution on here!

 

[aztoyman]

Glad you got it. Super frustrating for sure.

 

[CruiserTrash]

I have a big slide hammer where I cut down a little bit of the hook on the end so it fits in behind the pilot bearing. From grabbing it off the shelf, getting the bearing out, to putting the tool back on the shelf I’m done in under a minute. Never could get bread to work for me.

 

[DrRock]

Glad you had success. Root cause of these issues with the pullers is the quality has been going downhill for the last 20 years. The companies manufacturing them are too lazy to reduce the inner radius of the forks plus other geometry issues and they know the metallurgy is not up to the task to support a smaller radius.

On one of my motorcycle forums we have a special tools pool where folks add tools and will send them to you for the cost of shipping. Then they hang on to that tool until another user needs that tool and ship to that user etc. I know this is easier for motorcycle tools as they are typically smaller but maybe we can start something similar in the Stickies section?