&COPYBy: John T. Blair (WA4OHZ)
1133 Chatmoss Dr., Va. Beach, Va. 23464; (757) 495-8229

Originally Written: October 1998

Last update: June 15, 2009 - Reformated page

My friend, Stephen F. Bauserman, was having trouble getting his transmission back in his car after replacing his clutch. He had made several attempts to no avail. In desperation, he called me to ask if I had any ideas.

My first question was did he have a clutch pilot bearing alignment too. To which he responded, " No ".

The problem with aligning a transmission to a manual clutch is that the output shaft of the transmission is splined to mate with splines on the clutch face plate. The face plate is held in position by the pressure created by bolting the pressure plate to the fly wheel. Consiquently the center of the face plate may not align with the pilot bearing, (the little bearing in the hole in the center of the flywheel).

If these two parts are not in perfect alignment, it is impossible to get the input shaft of the transmission to go through the clutch face plate and into the hole in the flywheel.

This is where the clutch pilot bearing alignment tool comes into play. Years ago, before the massive use of plastic, you could purchase a universal tool for this job. The tool kit consisted of many parts of different sizes to allow for the different sizes of the clutch face plate center hole, and the size of the pilot bearing. However, with plastics being all the rage, the aftermarket producers are manufacturing a line of different size pilot tools for the various different clutch configurations. And at a considerable savings. A plastic clutch pilot bearing tool costs less than $5.

I suggested that he measure the diameter of the pilot bearing and then take his clutch plate to a local autostore. The aftermarket auto parts stores are now carrying a line of these tools in plastic. In fact when I purchased the clutch kit for my 84 Accord, the kit consisted of a Pressure plate, face plate throw out bearing and a Clutch pilot bearing alignment tool.

To his and my supprise his local PeP Boys had one.

Steve reports:

" Thanks for the advice on the alignment tool. It was one of the best $2.00 purchases I have made. Purchased it at Pep Boys around the corner from the house. For future reference the 4/4 uses a 7/8" 20 spline MG/Triumph/Austin tool."

John

To email me with comments or questions.