Come on now. Many vans are running around without the little sheet metal
felt retainer or the felt. They don't explode because of it and the
clutches can go for years and years that way. Better to have the parts
there, of course, but not quite a looming crisis if they are missing.

The other type pilot bearing with built-in seal is from various VW and
Audis, including Diesel Vanagons. The bearing shell is longer to make
room in the outer end for the rubber seal. The longer shell hits the wbx
flywheel so the pilot bore in the wbx flywheel needs to be slightly
enlarged on the side that goes toward the crank. You don't need to
enlarge the hole all the way through for the longer shell and I don't.
That is because I don't have a proper machine so I just hog out some
metal on the side of the flywheel that needs it, leaving the rest of the
pilot bore hole alone.

Mark

JRodgers wrote:
> "Pilot Bearing and Feltpad Dealt With"  - To me - not at all.
>
> A new bearing and a new felt seal could have been put in place - BUT -
> if the BRASS BUSHING that fits into the flywheel and slides over the
> pilot shaft to protect and hold the felt washer/seal in place is not
> present - then the fix is only temporary and soon enough the felt seal
> will be destroyed and shortly there after so will be the pilot bearing.
> Then back to square one. AND - unless someone actually saw the bushing
> and saw it in place - then whether or not it's actually there is
> unknown. I would  not feel comfortable on a long trip riding on top of
> that unknown.
>
>