bushing or bearing?

which is better and why?
the early style pilot bushing
or the later style pilot bearing
would using a new bearing for a magnum instead of a bushing on an early 4speed 318 combo be an upgrade? does it matter? thoughts, opinions, speculation?

............Bearing is better, less rotational drag.....and especially if ur crank is an auto trans crank........kim.......

I'd rather have an bronze bushing than hard steel rollers on my input shaft. Roller bearings can do alot of damage to the input shaft if they run dry or get dirt in them. Also if the rollers chewed up the input shaft you would have to replace it, if the stock style bushing wore into the input shaft you could then use the magnum style pilot bearing which would ride on the undamaged part of the input shaft saving you from replacing the input shaft.
The most important thing is not to ride the clutch, this will increase pilot bushing life on either style bearing/bushing

oldkimmer said:

............Bearing is better, less rotational drag.....and especially if ur crank is an auto trans crank........kim.......

Click to expand...

I agree. It's far superior to the bushing. If you have a '67 and earlier 273 or S6 you're out of luck though as the converter hole isn't big enough for the Magnum bearing. I guess there is more of a chance to damage the input shaft of the transmission with a bearing, but I haven't seen that as an issue yet. I have seen many bad bushings do some damage not only to the input shaft but to the input bearing and bearing retainer not to mention the chattering clutch and vibration. Riding the clutch is more likely to damage the throw-out bearing than the pilot bearing/bushing. The only time the pilot bearing is turning is when the clutch is disengaged or slipping.

I will be using a bushing and this is why....

Over the years, on this forum, we have had several mentions of bearing failure. I'm just talking a hand full, not many.

But

I have never seen a thread about bushing failure.


The rotational gains from a bearing are incredibly insignificant. Most of the 40 year old 833s out their have lived their entire life on a bushing and are just fine.

Well, then let me be the first on bushing failures. I've pulled them apart and seen the bushing so bad that there were just a few crumbs left to tell it had a bushing at all. When they totally disintegrate like that, the input bearing is usually toast and many times the snout on the bearing retainer is cracked. I don't know if I've just been lucky or they're still a little new for high mileage failures but I just haven't seen any pilot bearing seizures. Under race conditions it might be problem, I don't know about that.... I drive an automatic on the track!