Hi all,

So I'm replacing the clutch in my 1997 Civic LX 4-door, and I'm at the point of replacing the pilot bearing. I held up the new one to the old one while it was still installed in the flywheel, and it sure looked like it was too big. I measured the inside diameter of the pilot hole (there is a small lip since the pilot bearing sits recessed in the center of the flywheel a little bit), and it measured 29mm. I checked the outside diameter of the new bearing and it measured 32mm. Definitely too big.

I checked the Duralast kit I bought from the local Autozone and what I found online matched the part number they sold me for my Civic. They ordered in a second kit and that bearing matched the one in the first kit, so no problem there. I called a Honda dealer and asked about a pilot bearing and if they had the dimensions, and the parts tech said the diameter was 1.26 inches... which is 32mm. Hmmmm,

Anyone ran into this problem before? The only thing I can guess is that someone swapped out the motor before I owned the car, or maybe just swapped the flywheel. Doesn't seem likely, since it was low miles when I bought it (120K) and it is bone stock... usually motor swaps include fancy air intakes and distributors, and this car has none of that. Or, maybe the parts books are wrong. Or, I'm just plain wrong and If I would just remove the old bearing, I would find that the hole is 32mm like the new bearing.

Any help?

lrhtech

 

If I remember correctly its smaller on one side of the flywheel so it bottoms out and won't be dislodged.

My duralast pilot bearing and clutch tool worked perfectly

 

Flywheel must be removed to change bearing. The bearing actually fits into the end of the crankshaft. The hole in the flywheel is intentionally smaller than the bearing, to hold it in place when the flywheel is attached.

 

Remove the flywheel and tap out the original pilot bearing... chances are good that the one you received in your AutoZone kit is the correct size. As stated above by others, the flywheel has a machined lip facing the front/outside to keep the bearing from falling out of the front and making contact with the clutch disc. Tap the new bearing into the flywheel from the back. This is where you should measure the diameter of the opening if you want to make sure you have the correct size... not the front.

 

It should be a metric industry standard #6201 bearing, which is 32 mm OD and 10 mm ID.

 

 

I was doing an engine swap (AT motor onto a dead MT motor) and pulled off the transmission that had clearly had its flywheel fairly recently replaced including the pilot bearing. Pilot bearing was Made in China and dead already even though it had been replaced with the other parts which were all still in good condition. OP, it is worth your time to source a quality bearing (e.g., Timkin) to replace whatever you got with your kit if it is a noname Made in China crap, or you'll be doing it over again in short order.

 

/\ agreed. i'd rather leave a properly functioning OE part than swap it out with chinese garbage.