The old "wet paper to remove the pilot bearing" trick

Back in March of 2010 (2 years ago!) when I replaced my clutch, I had a tough time removing the pilot bearing. I tried the grease trick, but all it did was make a big mess. I ended up using a puller to get the bearing out. I had hear after the fact that a pilot bearing can be removed using a punch and some wet paper. Well, I finally had the chance to try it out. I'm getting ready to put the SBC back in my GMC pickup and I needed to replace the pilot bushing before putting the new clutch on.



First, I shredded some newspaper and soaked it in warm water. I stuffed some in the pilot hole and used a piece of rebar (which was about the right size) as a punch. I alternated between hammering on the rebar and pushing more paper into the hole. Amazingly, it was working! I could feel the bushing get pushed out of the crankshaft hole. After what seemed like a lot of paper, the bushing fell out. Wow! I'd seen this done in a Youtube video, but now I'm a true believer.