Moss Motors, Ltd

Pilot Bushing Removal
By David Lenski

The crankshaft pilot bushing, or spigot bearing for you anglophiles, is the bush that is pressed into a recess in the rear of the crankshaft, and which locates the transmission's mainshaft. Although the factory workshop manual for the TR4 calls for its removal by threading the bush with a tap, screwing in a bolt and then pulling the bush out with an homemade puller, I have found a much simpler method. The principle of this shortcut is to build up pressure behind the bush so that is just pops out.

First, fill up the space behind the bush with thick grease. This is easily done by inserting the tip of a grease gun into the recess and filling the space with grease, being careful to avoid air bubbles. Second, find a bolt that just fits into the bush. I found a cylinder head stud to work perfectly on my TR4 (see figure one). Third (see figure two, hit the stud smartly so that it is pushed further in to the bush. This will compress the grease and cause the bush to pop out. A method that not only takes less time than the shop manual procedure and it really works!

(This may indeed be an effective removal technique on a very thick-walled bush like the Triumph pilot shaft bush, but it is much less likely to be effective on the more typical thin-walled bush due to the significantly less end-surface area.-Ed.)

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FYI - the same grease technique works great on the MG XPAG engine pilot bushing, too.  I used a wood dowel instead of a bolt.

Dick,  Ive done exactly the same too. Just an extra safety note, wear protective specs when you wallop the dowel. If any grease shoots out, its travelling some!  Cheers    - -  steve

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To a man equipped with only a hammer, most problems look like nails

Steve,

WOW!

Your signature line finally shows the truth, mostly. Just goofing. We have always used the dowel method. We make one up on our seventy year old lathe (9" South Bend, for those who know about such, though if you do, I bet you virtually assumed so) so that it is actually a tad tight in the hole. We've found that you can even remove those thin walled bushings this way. Additionally, we don't get too much of a grease cannon effect.

What I find interesting is that the subject here is TRs. I'd say about 60% of the TRs that we get into that far have a LOOSE pilot bushing, and the challenge is not to remove it, but to find a way to restore fit!

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Motorbill
From Lola to Land Rover, If it's British and has wheels, it's likely I've bloodied me knuckles thereupon

Yeah  Bill, I was probably using my #2 precision adgustment tool and and a bit of old dowel out of the junk bin. Specially turned up for the job?? WOW yourself!  Thats cheating!Altho as Im thinking about it, a taper on the dowel, tight fit goes in first, would be a pretty usefull little tool to have.   Cheers    - - - -  steve

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To a man equipped with only a hammer, most problems look like nails