68chevypu

iTrader: (18)

So I recently started getting an occasion grinding noise when the clutch was in at idle, and under decel sometimes. I just got the transmission out and found (1) the slave is done, the throwoutbearing had completly seperated from the slave housing itself and (2) the pilot bearing is gone. The outer race is still there but there are little peices of needle bearing inside.

Anyway, I have all new parts to replace these but I need to know if a slight roughness on the input shaft is gonna be a problem. Can I simply smooth it out (carefully so as not to make it oblong) or is this something that needs to be replaced?
Its not really that rough, but you can tell its not a machined surface anymore. And the last thing I want is to replace everything and have it destroy another pilot bearing and cause even more damage.

thanks for the help.

BlueMagicSS

iTrader: (4)

If it's not that bad you should be able to use some emery cloth or some fine grit sand paper...

85MikeTPI

iTrader: (9)

You want to make sure you don't have to reduce the diameter of the input pilot, or the bushing won't do anything. You might want to polish it, but also look into an extended pilot bushing to move the support out to an undamaged portion of the pilot shaft. If it's so bad you don't think it will be supported properly, you may have to pull the midplate off the trans and replace the input shaft.. Reshim the mainshaft and you'll be good to go.

Gen414

iTrader: (38)

I can say that the input shaft can take a pretty good beating and still be "useable".

I rebuilt a tranny oh, couple few months ago, and input shaft was ALL beat to hell, I mean, it was chewed up GOOD! I told my customer that it was destroyed, and we need to replace. He told me he did not have any more money to buy a new input shaft, that he was tapped. So, i told him that I would put it back together, with teh damaged input shaft, but to EXPECT it to have some vibrations, and possible shifting problems.
He told me that when he saved up more money, he would change it out. So, OK with me, as long as he knew it was not gonna be right.

Well, that was a couple months ago, and customer told me that there are NO vibrations and it shifts great.

So, my point is, that this input shaft had ALOT of run out on it, and was heavily grooved, and while I would not have re-used it, he did, and is reporting no problems.

If you have pics of yours, post them, and we can tell you how bad yours is....

thesource

iTrader: (60)

The tip of the input shaft is often over looked and most people do not realize the role that it plays. yes, its true a lot of people are running around with bad input shafts and even more are running around with bad pilot bearings. Sometimes the person never even notices anything, other times it can cause major issues. Those issues can be anything from leaking out the front seal to jumping out of 4th gear. Sometimes you will get a high pitch squeel in between gears when shifting, sometimes if left alone long enough will allow the input shaft to run out of alignment and start knocking teeth off the gear that runs against the cluster gear.