So my clutch in my '97 Jimmy has been slipping a lot, and I've been having a lot of problems with my clutch pedal going soft on me. I figured a new clutch was in order, so I ordered the AC delco clutch kit that's got everything with it. I also ordered a new slave cylinder and a new flywheel because I didn't want to have to worry about shimming it as it's already been resurfaced once.

Boy that NV3500 transmission is a ***** to get out! I wrestled with the exhaust manifold bolts for an entire day before I got them out. Hit them with PB blaster multiple times, torched them, pried on them, blasted them with an impact gun and a breaker bar.

Anyway, I finally get it all out, and long story short.....the pilot bearing is completely SEIZED in the end of the crankshaft. It was all dried out in there, and all of the little bearings were pushed back into the little pit behind the bearing, and was full of rusty dust. I already broke one puller, and have had the next one on there with a slide hammer. Unfortunately that just drug grooves right through the body of the bearing, that actual bearing housing is still seized. I read somewhere where another person had used a dremel and physically cut it out......which is what I'm trying to do now.

Anyone got any suggestions???

 

The pilot bearing is a actual bearing? On the older s10s they were just a piece of metal. Anyways are you able to drill it out? That's what I had to do to one that wouldn't come out

 

Drilling may not be a good idea. If you oversize the hole even by a slight amount the new one will not be a tight fit.

If you can some how cut through one side with a small chisel etc. That may relieve the tension so a puller will remove it. After you get it out clean the rust out with some fine sand paper.

 

Here is a real easy way to get a pilot bearing out. Find a bolt or piece of metal rod that fits snug into the inside diameter of the bearing. Just loose enough to slide in easily. Then fill the cavity behind the bearing with grease. Take the bolt/rod you made and place it into the center of the bearing. Hit it with a hammer until the bearing is out. You may have to refill with grease as you go.

This has worked on several stubborn throw out bushings/bearings for me in the past.

If that doesn't work, then you could use a dremel with the small sanding roll on it to basically grind away one side of the outer race of the bearing.

 

Thanks for the reply guys. Fortunately for me, literally 5 minutes after I posted this thread I got it out. I had already been pounding on it all day with a puller and slide hammer, had already tried the grease packing method as well with no results. I had been blasting it with a heavy duty hardened steel cutting bit on the dremel tool, so half of it was already cut through.

Right before I came inside to post my original thread I doused the entire area and hole with PB blaster and let it sit for an hour. After I came back out, I stuck the end of a pry bar into the grooves I had cut on each side, and much to my surprise the bearing started to turn in the hole. I put the puller inside of it, and whacked it one time with the slide hammer and OUT SHE CAME! So I pretty much wasted an entire day screwing around with this one thing, but I'm happy to have it out nonetheless. I got the new clutch all mounted up, so now it's just a matter of shoe-horning that HOSS of a trans back up into the tunnel and getting everything put back together.

-Brian