OTC 1170 Pilot Bearing and Bushing Puller, 2-Jaw Slide Hammer

The pilot bearing sits in the back of the crankshaft and carries the nose of the transmission input shaft. It is the one part almost everyone forgets until the new clutch is already in and the trans will not slide home, or it howls in neutral with the pedal out. This OTC 1170 is a two-jaw internal puller on a dedicated slide hammer, built to reach behind a pilot bearing or bronze pilot bushing and pull it straight out of the crank without pulling the flywheel or packing the bore with grease.

The jaws spread from 1/2 in to 1-1/2 in with a 3/4 in reach, which covers the common domestic and import pilot bearings and bushings behind manual transmissions - GM SM465, Muncie and T56 applications, Ford Toploader and TR3650, Dodge NV4500 and G56, and most four-cylinder and V6 imports. It also pulls bearings out of electric motors, generators and magnetos, which is why it lives on a lot of shop benches instead of in a clutch job kit.

Using it is straightforward: back the jaws in through the bearing bore until they sit behind the inner race or the back edge of the bushing, tighten the spreader so the jaws lock against the back face, then work the slide hammer. The 17 in shaft with a 1-3/4 lb hammer gives you enough shock to break a rusted bushing loose in a few strokes without hammering on the crank flange. The hammer end is 1/2-20 threaded, so the shaft doubles as a base for other 1/2-20 puller attachments you may already own.

Compared with the grease-and-dowel trick or a slide hammer with generic jaws, the fixed 3/4 in reach is what makes this work - it gets behind the race in a shallow crank pocket where longer jaws bottom out. Total tool weight is 4 lb 14 oz.