pilot bushing??

[furydan]

I just put my 318 motor together with a 65 forged crank from a 273. My problem now is that I installed a new brass pilot bushing and the tool to center the clutch doesn't fit the new bushing. I also bought one of those larger bushing/bearings that fit in the end of the crank where a torque converter goes, but the bushing/bearing wont fit in the hole in the end of the crank. What is up? It is a stock crank from a 65 273. I pulled the old bushing out 1st and it fit the tool. The new bushing only fit the input shaft of the trans up to a small step in the shaft diameter,abotu 1.5 to 2 inches but the bushing/bearing fit the shaft all the way to the splines of the shaft.
Is there more than 1 size of bushing for this? Does a 65 273 crank require a different size bushing than a 71 318 crank? How far is the bushing supposed to go on to the input shaft of the trans? Help....I am so ready to get this thing finished.
Dan

 

[omahamoparguy]

the larger bushing/bearing (pilot bearing they call them) that fits in the larger torque convertor pilot will not fit in a 1965 crank. the cranks were changed as far as the dimensions go in/for 1968. The other bushing (original style) should work. yuou need to measure the diam of your input spline on your trans (Ill assume its an 833 4 spd) there should be no step and the original bushing only needs to go about 2 inches on the shaft (but it varies, could be less) compare the old and new bushings, you may have gotten the wrong one bu mistake. The size of the input shaft did not change as far as I know from when they were first introduced. ( in 1964 I believe). the bushing should be the same. There shouild be no step. this step you have may be wear from the original bushing.

 

[Oldmanmopar]

NAPA use to make two bushings for these cranks a small outside diameter and a large. The small diameter is for a crank that was originally for a automatic and was mot machined for this bushing. The larger diameter is for a machined standard shift crank. Your crank may be originally from a automatic. Go to your local NAPA and inquire about the smaller outside dia. bushing. , A little smaller but it does make a difference The inside dia. doesn't colapse when hit in and your trans will fit. Steve

 

[furydan]

Well I called Brewer's and they basically told me, as omaha has said above, that the 65 crank does have a smaller hole in it so the larger pilot bushing/bearing wont fit. They are sending me a new pilot bushing and clutch centering tool. It is the centering tool that doesnt fit in the bushing that I have now. The bushing that I have now fit the block and the input shaft, I just cant get the clutch centered because the tool doesnt fit the bushing. It does fit the larger bushing mentioned before, but there again, that bushing doesn't fit the crank.
Hopefully the mailman will have my stuff today and the issue will go away.
Dan

 

[slickchick]

do you think that maybe you could have boogered the end of the bushing installing it in the crankshaft ??? just a thought .I have done that ,and did it to 2 or 3 of them before I installed it without damage :-$

 

[furydan]

do you think that maybe you could have boogered the end of the bushing installing it in the crankshaft ??? just a thought .I have done that ,and did it to 2 or 3 of them before I installed it without damage :-$

Thats why I went ahead and ordered another one..And the new clutch centering tool. I tried to put this very bushing in a 318 motor last year and found out the crank wans't drilled for a 4 speed motor. So I ended up puttingthe big bearing in the end of the crank. Had the brass bushing left over so I tried to use in this current project..Didn't appear to be damaged, but it definitely doesn't fit the clutch tool.
Hopefully I will be able to resolve this with the new bushing.
Dan

 

[furydan]

so after ruining another pilot bushing..I read in the service manual how to put these in..It requires a special tool that upon installation of the bushing the tool needs to be pulled out of the bushing burnishing it on it's way out. They give you tool numbers to use, but who has those old chrysler tools these days. So now what? Look for old chrysler tools? Take this 273 forged crank and it's $150 worth of machining and scrap it? Ugh.................
Guess I'll call brewers again tomorrow and get a couple more of these bushings...At least they are cheap.
Maybe Harbor Freight has some kind of tool for this.?????

 

[furydan]

So it turns out that I probably have a crank that wasn't prepped for a 4 speed and that the bushing I removed from it was made to fit and the hole it came from isn't exactly centered in the crank..Brewers suggested maybe I could have the bushing I bought to fit the crank register cut down to fit the smaller register on my 65 273 crank...Ok, willing to try that, but yesterday I had seen a post where someone had actually given the 2 different crank register sizes and now I cant find that post again.
Does anybody know the size of the earlier(pre 68) crank register dimension so I can get this bushing/bearing cut down to fit? I have been looking for 3 hours now and can't find what I found just yesterday. I believe it was slantsixdan who posted it, but not sure.
Thanks for any and all the help here.

 

[67Dart273]

We seem to have two threads going on this issue. Another thing you ABSOLUTELY need to do is compare the length of the gearbox shaft to the depth from the bell to the pilot hole "bottom."

Some cranks are not deep enough, and one fix used to be to chop a little off the end of the shaft. Not as hokey as it sounds. My recollection is around 1/4-3/8" is all you need.

 

[furydan]

NAPA use to make two bushings for these cranks a small outside diameter and a large. The small diameter is for a crank that was originally for a automatic and was mot machined for this bushing. The larger diameter is for a machined standard shift crank. Your crank may be originally from a automatic. Go to your local NAPA and inquire about the smaller outside dia. bushing. , A little smaller but it does make a difference The inside dia. doesn't colapse when hit in and your trans will fit. Steve

I checked with napa and the smaller bushing is no longer available...
Just my luck

 

[furydan]

I was finally able to get the pilot bearing turned down to fit my smaller register crank shaft and put the motor in last night...2 more nights after work hooking it all up, and the car should be running!!!!!!
Sorry for the lousy cell phone image.

 

[harvenator]

I had the same problem and actually got the last smaller diameter bushing in NAPA inventory. Even still, I had to use my Dremel to burnish the bushing. The problem was the crank was originally set up for an automatic and the hole was never finished off to accept the stock bushing. I've never found out whether or not the hole was centered and do seem to have a shifting problem. I need to pull the 4 speed to change out a throw out bearing and will adjust the clutch at the flywheel looking for about .050 of clearance and see if that helps.
For anyone else out there that has this problem, the easiest thing to do is buy a stocj bushing and have it turned down to .886 which is the measurement I took off the undersize bushing.