I punched the Bus today.-FIXED!!!!

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Sodbuster
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Location: Where ever my baywindow takes me.
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Post by Sodbuster » Sat Jul 17, 2010 11:23 pm

The pilot bearing is the most overlooked clutch component IMHO. And it can cause all the inconsistencies with your clutch you have described. A shattered pilot bearing might allow a trans to shift just fine one minute then nothing the next and every little glitch a clutch can go through in between. I had a 79 campmobile that did this very thing on a cross country trip once.
The clutch started acting up on me. Working fine then not, grinding, stiff shifting, the whole bit. Then the clutch stopped working all together. It turned out that once the pilot bearing had completely shattered it had essentially welded the crank to the input shaft rendering the clutch itself useless.
I pulled the engine and trans as a unit and had to use pry bars to separate them on the ground. The bad pilot bearing bound things up that bad! The rest of the clutch parts were just fine but since I had it apart I did a full clutch job anyway.
VW did give a spec for the amount of grease used to lube the pilot bearing. It’s one gram of grease.
:cyclopsani:
71 campmobile.
71 single cab.
99 new beetle.

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Vdubtech
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Post by Vdubtech » Sat Sep 11, 2010 12:30 pm

I finally stopped driving my newly acquired '65 Bug around long enough to pull the engine and tranny out of the RustyBus and investigate what the hell is goin on with this thing. I found the problem....not the end of the world by any means. Pilot bearing is shot. Well, what's left of it is shot. Hopefully I'll be able to get the remains out of the crank so I can replace and get some more camping in this fall. Sucks cause I was hoping to have it back together this weekend but finding a pilot bearing for a '79 Bus in Syracuse same day is next to impossible. I'll order the part on Monday and hopefully have some time and decent weather during the week to get it back together. I'm wondering about this transmission....it would appear that the transmission is not the culprit here and therefore should be fine to put back in. I was planning to replace the tranny today as I figured it was an internal problem but having seen the pilot bearing, I'm inclined to think the tranny is ok. I was getting some fluid leakage (gear oil) from the transmission where the engine and tranny meet so I'm thinking the pilot bearing heated up and took out the main shaft seal, thus the fluid in the bellhousing. I'll have to clean up the end of the main shaft a little bit but I think other than a new seal this tranny should be ok.....Lots of rusty fasteners and ugliness under this Bus, but she's served me well and deserves at least one more season before it's time to retire it for good. Here are some pics....tell me what you think. I'm going back out to work on getting this pilot bearing out of the crank.

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Amskeptic
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Post by Amskeptic » Sun Sep 12, 2010 10:35 am

Vdubtech wrote: she's served me well and deserves at least one more (decade) before it's time to retire it for good.
Do a nice cross hatch sanding with 320 on that input shaft. Clean well. Stick new bearing on the lightly lubricated shaft *before* you install it in the crank. Make sure it is smooth and not too crazy loose or anything.
Colin
BobD - 78 Bus . . . 112,730 miles
Chloe - 70 bus . . . 217,593 miles
Naranja - 77 Westy . . . 142,970 miles
Pluck - 1973 Squareback . . . . . . 55,600 miles
Alexus - 91 Lexus LS400 . . . 96,675 miles

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Vdubtech
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Post by Vdubtech » Sun Sep 12, 2010 1:57 pm

Will do. And I have a 6 rib in the reserve if I find this one isn't gonna do it.

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Vdubtech
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Post by Vdubtech » Sat Sep 25, 2010 2:27 pm

I finally got the time to put the engine and transmission back into the Bus. Replaced the shredded pilot bearing and the transmission main shaft seal, cleaned up the original clutch components, new o ring and felt in the flywheel and put it all back together. Fired it up and it shifts with no grinding at all!! I took her for a quick ride and it shifts beautifully again. We'll be camping in her next weekend to celebrate!! Thanks for your help everyone, looks like this one is fixed!!

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