There is no grinding noise at any time or I would have stopped driving the
van. How much should it cost to have the pilot bearing replaced? If the
input shaft is chewed up can that be replaced without dismantling the
transmission? Is there any way to test for this besides removing the tranny?

Thanks,
Nathan

>Do you have a grinding noise when the transmission is in gear and the
>clutch is pushed in?  If so, it's the pilot bearing.  I had those same
>symptoms on my '75 bus when the pilot bearing was on its way out.
>Eventually it seized and I couldn't disengage at all.  I've heard these
>can chew up the end of the input shaft when they fail.

>Yes, this is exactly what happened to my '88 a few years back. Came on
>fairly suddenly though, passing through Hwy 99 enroute to Duffy Lake. Not
>a nice road to have clutch problems on... Made it home have to start in 1st
>gear many times, but after 150kms the input shaft was toast. Papers from
>PO noted an earlier pilot bearing failure, and shaft was *not* replaced, so
>I
>suspect once the shaft is chewed up, it will continue to eat pilot
>bearings...
>I have the trans out now for a clutch/main seal fix, and the new PB and
>input shaft look like new still.

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