Flywheel removal

You are going to need a puller for the pilot bearing and it is in the center of the works or in the end of the crank. Don't miss the oiled pad or you will be doing the job again in a short time.

You should remove the flywheel and have it turned so it isn't grabby. Once you have the flywheel out, you will see the big center hole where the crank fits with the pilot bearing still sitting there in the end of the engine.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Carl Saiyed wrote:

"Carl Saiyed" Also unsure how I'm going to actually put it the trans up there."

Without a transmission jack it is hard to put one in. You can try balancing it on a floor jack but take the chance of damaging the transmission if dropped. They make an adapter that fits a floor jack that you can use to pick it up.

Before I bought one for about 50 dollars, I tried lifting them up manually. I even laid a set of double stack 2 X 10 across the fenders and used a scissors jack to lift the transmission. I secured a chain to the transmission and to the frame of the vehicle.I then ran the chain over the scissors jack which was placed on the 2 X10. I then cranked up the transmission. As I ran out of lift, I would block the transmission with wood and lower the jack. Choke up on the chain and repeat process. Once at the right height, I then stabbed the transmission in position and bolt it up.

Sarge

I read in a manual that you can fill the pilot bearing with grease, and slide a shaft into the pilot hole. A few taps on the shaft, and the pilot bearing pops right out. I have never tried this, but in theory it makes sense. Where you find a shaft that fits the pilot hole exactly, I don't know.

I have had some success in the past, with a slide hammer, that has a hook fixed to the end of it. Stick the hook into the pilot hole, grab onto the inner ring of the bearing, and pull away.

Earle

I have heard that too, I tried it and was not able to get the pilot bearing to move at all. I found a wooden dowel that was a very snug fit. I rented the puller from AutoZone (rent the tool, get a full refund when returned) and it came right out.

Mike -

I don't understand how the bearing could be in the end of the crank. The new bearing supplied with my kit seems to be an exact match of the bearing that is in the flywheel. I currently have the flywheel removed, and it was machined.

Thanks to all for the help so far.

Carl

Thanks, Robb. Still interested in that drink? ;-)

Carl

There is something wrong with what you are saying....

The flywheel is the part on the back of the engine with the ring gear on it for the starter to grab. It has about a 4" hole in it and 5 bolts holding it on......

I 'have' rebuilt an 89 258 and it's crank had the pilot bearing in it. The pilot bearing has about a 1/2" hole in it for the very end of the tranny shaft.

Are you sure you are not talking the pressure plate on the tranny side of things that has a throw out bearing for it????

There are two faces you need machined, one is the pressure plate, the other is the flywheel on the back of the engine. If you only do one side, the clutch will likely judder.

Mike

Carl Saiyed wrote:

My 81 CJ was exactly as you discribe, hole in the middle of flywheel, bearing in that.

Ok.... I am missing something here or someone is..... I have had an 86 engine apart, an 89, a 91 and my current engine is a 78.

All of these engines have a flywheel bolted onto the end of the crank. The hole in the flywheel is about 4" big with the end of the crank sitting in this hole. In the crank there is a hole for the pilot bushing (CJ's) or bearing (YJ's).

When I take this flywheel and ring gear off, I have a 4" hole in it with

5 bolts in an offset pattern.

When I took the cranks in to get them turned, the shops pulled out the old pilot bearing for me so I could put a new one into the end of the crank. I did not take the flywheels in with me.

Here is a drawing (A Bill H link) exactly the same all the 258 engines I have worked on showing the pilot bushing as part number 1.043-1. This also shows it as a crank part with a perfect example of 'all' the flywheels I have ever seen on a 258.

Mike

Greg wrote:

What size engine did you have? The 258 certainly isn't like that.

Here's what a typical traditional flywheel and pilot bushing assembly looks like (not a Jeep flywheel, but close enough for illustration purposes):

And here's what a traditional clutch assembly looks like in exploded view:

Notice how much smaller the bushing is that the hole in the flywheel. For the 232/258 it sets into a recess in the end of the crank. Some models have a stepped hole in the crank that will accept either of two different sized bushings.

Greg wrote:

Where it not that one previous poster said that his flywheel was off I'd say that they've been looking at the end of the crank and thinking it was part of the flywheel. It is an easy enough mistake to make, there's no good demarcation between the two until you loosen the bolts up a bit.

L.W.(Bill) Hughes III wrote:

OK guys, I am completely confused now. There appears to be a a provision in the back of the crank to accomodate a raised casting in the flywheel that the pilot bearing sits in. Here are some pics

is the face of the flywheel that I had machined. The pilot bearing hasan arrow.

is the rear (engine side) of the flywheel, which shows the rear of thepilot bearing and the raised casting on the flywheel. is a closeup of the raised casting in the rear (engine side) of theflywheel and the pilot bearing. is the rear of the engine, which shows the six holes for the flywheelbolts, and the provision for the raised casting. is a closeup of the provision for the raised casting on the flywheel. Am I right that this bearing is the pilot bearing?

Looking back at the thread, I think I see the problem. I have the 2.5L 4 banger, not the 258 or 4.0.

Carl

Acually I may be thinking of what it looked like when I put in the bearing, I can't remeber if when I took my flywheel off to resurface if it had a 4" hole in it then from crank, maybe you are right. I was just thinking with flywheel in, you look at it and there is the little 3/4" bearing in the middle.

Bingo!

We were talking apples and oranges for sure there Carl, sorry about the confusion.

I for one and most others were taking about the 258. As soon as I saw that first photo with the CPS cutouts and the pilot in the flywheel itself (yes you are correct) I knew you weren't talking a carb engine.

So now begs the question about how to keep that bearing lubricated. The

258 uses a foam or felt oil soaked pad that sits in the depression in the end of the crank. Did some dirty gooey chunk of crap come out of that hole?

Mike

Carl Saiyed wrote:

Yep, that would be it. We were all thinking 232/258/4.0, not the 4-banger.

Thanks for the pictures.

Carl Saiyed wrote: [snip]