Bad Pilot Bushing Symptoms?
I’m post of the year. On top of everything else posted I agree a million percent that a roller bearing is NOT an upgrade.
I didn’t say it because I didn’t feel like defending myself against all the guys using them.
It’s not that the roller bearing won’t work, but it’s definitely not an upgrade.
Great post 72.
Thanks!
Again the roller bearing pilot is a perfectly viable option, and probably millions of vehicles run them. They definitely work, so I don’t want to give the impression that they’re a bad choice.
Both the bushings and the bearings have their pros and cons, and I’m sure some applications may actually require a bearing because of the runout specs. But yeah, I don’t see the bearing as an upgrade because of some of its cons. Just my opinion of course.
I have the correct bushing on order through Brewers.
McMaster has 841 bearing bronze "Oilite" bushings that are almost exact dimensions. I'm going to toss a 15/16" x 3/4" x 1" bearing in the lathe and cut off an eight an inch of length and see how it looks.
863 bearing material is known as "Super Oilite" for higher load bearing at lower rotational speeds. It has added iron and a silver appearance, which is what I suspect this "non-bronze" magnetic style of bushing is.
That may be the case, but like everything there’s a trade off. Higher load bearing is good, but, the fact that the bushing contains iron would also generally mean that it will have the capability to cause wear to the input shaft where a softer material would not or would wear the input shaft more slowly. So if you don’t need the additional load capacity, it’s not necessarily a better option. The bushing itself would also last longer, which is good, but it’s going to wear the input shaft faster, which is not.
Personally, I would rather need to change out the pilot bushing more frequently than have to change the pilot bushing or bearing AND the input shaft - even if that would be less frequent.
Just because some is heavy duty doesn’t necessarily make it better for all applications. If you don’t need it, you may be adding difficulties you don’t need for benefits that don’t improve anything in your application.