What's a good pilot bearing puller for the 944?
 

Sometimes, the pilot bearing comes out with the bolt-and-vice grips trick. Sometimes I have barely enough room for the rental pilot bearing tool to fit in there between the engine and the driveshaft. But sometimes, it's stuck in there, no tool seems to fit, and I struggle for hours.

I'm ready to just buy the right tool, so I was wondering if anyone has found a tool that fits in the space provided and does the job. Thanks.

Bread.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...val-bread.html

My first clutch job on a 944, I struggled for a full day with that stupid thing. I had ended up breaking the guts out of it, and then the pilot bearing puller I borrowed wouldn't work. Ended up getting a cheap puller from Sears and filing the arms until they fit. For the 3 or 4 I've done since, I immediately break the guts out of the bearing and use my trusty $10 custom bearing puller.

I welded (just a little tack) a bolt to a cheap slide crow bar...drop the head of the bolt through and tap the slide back as you move it around, came out in about 10 seconds.

If you find something off the shelf that works really well make sure to post it up for the rest of us!
Ethan

Our rennlist friend Chrenan posted up a great method with a slide hammer on our local board.

http://straightpipe.ca/forums/showth...t=1539&page=25

Fill the bearing hole with grease then get a bolt of similar size to the hole in the bearing then apply electrical tape then put in the centre of the bearing and hit with a hammer! This will hydraulic the bearing out of the flywheel for you! Note you will have to continue to add more grease as the bearing moves out but it works every time given the small working space you have!

Foyley

I've tried the grease method, it was way too messy, and didn't work for me. I wouldn't want to do it with bread, either. I want an actual tool. But thanks for the tips.

So most people (who use a tool) use a slide hammer? I've had a slide hammer work, but it was a big PITA finding one small enough, holding it at an angle, slamming my fist into the tip of the driveshaft, etc. I'd really like a press-style tool, if possible. I'm sure there's one out there which is small enough, I just don't know which one.

Not there yet but for tight quarters this which is made in the USA. Or $15 bucks at your local zone here which is a slide hammer attachment but a claw hammer might suffice.

FREE tool to borrow (deposit) at your local auto parts store (O'Malleys).
Attaches to slide rod with weight.

I spent an hour trying to get the pilot bearing out of my Jeep ---Less than a minute with the pilot bearing attachment.

J_AZ

I've used a hex bolt head as a hook for the clutch pilot bearing. Grab on the threads with a pair of vice grips and tug.

Maybe I just don't have the right touch, but the hooking a bolt trick and the hydraulic trick did not work for me. I'd like to own a tool for this, and be done worrying about it. I tried the rental tool from Autozone, but its hooks were too big for the small Porsche pilot bearing. My slide hammer was too large for the space (I use it for pulling hubs). I ended up trying my friend's cheapo chinese slide hammer, which was pretty small and fit in there, but the hooks were so cheap they'd buckle and my fist would fly into all kinds of hard objects.

If I could get a small slide hammer with high quality pilot bearing attachment, that would be nice. Or screw-type tool with small enough hooks.

There are bearing pullers you can purchase such as Kukko's line. I have a range of their internal pullers and counterstays which I use for transmission work. Not cheap, actually whatever the opposite of "cheap" is. There are pilot bearing puller kits as well.

I pulled mine with a seal puller. Just hook it, and yank the fucher out.

Just wanted to revisit this topic because I just encountered the most stuck pilot bearing I've ever seen. It bent the hooks on two tools that I tried and the third tool just kept slipping out. So I sprayed penetrating oil on the front of it, and filled the space behind it as much as I could, and let it sit over night.

In the morning, I try this simple setup, on the off chance that the penetrating oil completely solved my problem... and it did. It came out very easily. So from now on, I'm going straight for the penetrating oil.

2" socket, a spare trans mount bolt, and some nuts & washers. I was considering shelling out $190 for the snap-on small bearing puller, but I think I'll just buy a cheap one and try it with the penetrating oil next time.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...122a660bed.jpg

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...b5708009cf.jpg

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...9d082343ee.jpg

The hf puller works but you have to grind the hooks a little to fit into id of the bearing.....Bruce
Be sure to use a sealed bearing.