I have on occassions pumped the area behind spigot bush with grease till its full and using shaft same size as spigot bush, hammer it inwards displacing the grease causing pressure on rear of bush pushing it out. I am assuming he means something like that?, it does work.

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

What do you mean you removed it via "grease under pressure" ?

Doing Fords for 45 years. '56 Customline Victoria

E.J. in Havana FL

"Spare my days"

  AussieBill            YYYY    Forever Y Block     YYYY

 Down Under, Australia

Bushing OD measures .001" over bearing OD, so should be fine. Thought my steering wheel puller bar would work for a press, but flywheel bolts too large. But, I'm thinking since the engine is on a rolling stand, I could shove it up against a wall until all the play is out of the crank, and hammer the bushing in safely. Will hunt around for another puller with larger slot meanwhile.

FYI: Research also disclosed some currently available chinese bushings have a lot of iron in them, and should be avoided since they might damage the input shaft. Magnet tells the story. Also, DID find a web recommendation for pre-soaking oil-lite bushings before installation. Some even suggest NOT using grease on the pilot hole (seals off the pores, slowing oil feed to the shaft). Apparently, though not rocket science, still many ways to skin this cat.

6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA

Ah yes... I did lose sight of the soft/self lubricated OilLite bushing concept. Also, since I already have the damper tools, I should likely utilize them.

The replacement roller bearing usually supplied is supposed to be the same as the one I have put away for the generator, so I could double check the OD to see if it matches the OEM bushing I have. When trial fitting it to the crank recess, it looked like it was NOT going to be an easy press fit, and the origin/specs of any NOS part are never certain.

6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA

Another case where something simple is on the verge of being made more complicated than it really is.  There’s no need for oil on the outside of the bushing to aid installation.  It’s a press fit and in this case, the tighter, the better.  If it falls in, something’s obviously wrong.  As Pete mentions, using a press to install it is definitely better than ‘beating’ it into place.  But it’s not rocket science.  Too many of these were installed with an old input shaft installed into the center hole and just driven into place without any concern or problems afterwards.  It's brass or a form of brass and it's quite forgiving when installing.

Lorena, Texas (South of Waco)

to install the pilot bearing you can use a small t puller or make your own out of thick flat bar and use it like a press, saves beating on the flange of the crankshaft,  and the last post is the right way to remove the bushing hydraulic,s is a wonderful tool  Shakey Pete

I just removed and reinstalled the one in my 312. I removed it by the grease under pressure method. For reinstallation, I just set it in the hole, put the clutch line up tool in the hole and gently tapped in in. No problems.

54 Victoria 312;  48 Ford Conv 302, 56 Bird 312
Forever Ford
Midland Park, NJ

the proper bushing for the pilot bearing is a brass oil lite bushing which is pouriss where as the oil will penitrate inside the bushing under pressure and it acts as a reservour and only allows the oil to weep out to keep a film of oil on the tip of the piliot shaft a regular brass bushing is wrong for that application also it helps to put a small amount of grease in behind the oilite bushing       pardon my spelling  Shakey Pete

Ted,



What do you use to aid installation into the crank cavity? Thin synthetic motor oil (after keeping the bushing overnight in a freezer) seems most often recommended (from web reports). Don't want to bang on the crank anymore than needed.

6 VOLTS/POS. GRD. NW INDIANA