It's not the daimter so much as it is smoothness of the surface...

a cheapism of VW , to make the input shaft a bearing surface also.

if it's not fairly smooth, and you can't get to a fair amount of
smoothness ...a new or better input shaft is in order.

On 8/15/2015 6:34 AM, Mark Milby wrote:
> Good Info all, Thanks. I was not sure about the Dia., thesamba seemed to
> have conflicting opinions. I have an '85.
> I will see when I get it. I have an "INA" bearing with the felt washer as a
> back up but do not trust the quality since that is the part that failed so
> catastrophically.
>
>
> On Sat, Aug 15, 2015 at 12:10 AM, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> If the pilot bearing is shot you need to look carefully at the input
>> shaft. If it is chewed up it will need to be replaced. That diesel bearing
>> may look like it fits. When the flywheel goes on it will collapse the outer
>> shell and the input shaft will not be able to spin free or it may even jam
>> as the trans is being reinstalled.
>>
>> Dennis
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
>> Of Mark Milby
>> Sent: Friday, August 14, 2015 8:43 AM
>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>> Subject: Re: Pilot bearing failure
>>
>> You guys were right. After pulling the bearing, all of the pieces where
>> contained in the end of the crankshaft. So it is all cleaned up and I am
>> putting in the diesel style pilot bearing and doing away with the felt
>> washer and retaining ring.
>>
>> Thanks for the help
>>
>> On Thu, Aug 13, 2015 at 4:49 PM, SDF ( aka ;jim lahey' - Scott ) <
>> scottdaniel@turbovans.com> wrote:
>>
>>> assuming this is a waterboxer ..
>>> is the felt seal and retaining ring for it there ?
>>>
>>> I've seen many missing.
>>>
>>>
>>> On 8/13/2015 10:14 AM, vw_van_fan_Mark wrote:
>>>
>>>> Exactly. No way for the pilot bearing bits to get into the engine.
>>>>
>>>> Mark
>>>>
>>>> PSD wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I'm pretty sure the pilot bearing goes into a blind hole.  That's
>>>>> the way it is on most engines.  You shouldn't have any problem.
>>>>>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
>>>>> Behalf Of Mark Milby
>>>>> Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2015 3:54 PM
>>>>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>>>>> Subject: Pilot bearing failure
>>>>>
>>>>> So where do all of the little roller in the pilot bearing go when it
>>>>> has catastrophic failure. Many of them were on the flywheel. What I
>>>>> am worried about is the ones that potentially went into the motor.
>>>>> Is that possible.
>>>>> It is to dark to see through the hole in the crankshaft.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>
>> --
>> Mm
>>
>
>
> --
> Mm
>