OTC 7318 Flywheel Pilot Bearing Puller for Close Quarters

The OTC 7318 pulls the pilot bearing out of the back of a flywheel or the end of the crankshaft while the engine is still bolted in the car. It was built for the jobs where there is no room behind the bellhousing to swing a slide hammer — up against a firewall, a crossmember, or a transmission tunnel — so you are not pulling the engine just to get one bearing out.

The puller handles bearing bores from 1/2 inch up to 1-1/2 inch and reaches 3/4 inch into the bore. You collapse the jaws, feed them through the bearing ID, expand them behind the inner race, then draw the bearing out with the forcing screw. Because the pull is a steady screw load instead of hammer blows, it comes out square and you are not driving shock into the crank thrust bearing.

This is the bearing that ends up on the list any time a manual transmission or clutch comes out. A worn or dry pilot bearing shows up as a clutch that will not fully release, gear grind going into first or reverse with the pedal on the floor, and a chirp or growl that changes when you push the clutch in. The old grease-and-bread trick works when the bearing is a solid bushing and you have the patience for it; it does not work on a caged needle bearing that has already come apart. Pulling it with jaws behind the race does.

OTC part number 7318, roughly 11 by 3.2 by 5.6 inches, 3.4 pounds, carrying OTC's limited lifetime warranty. It is a single-purpose tool, and on a clutch job it pays for itself the first time it saves you from dropping the engine.