Pilot bearing press in depth
 

I am installing a clutch kit on my 2005 Mazda, my original release bearing blew up at 99,000 miles. The clutch material is still .300" thick and the new disc is .350" thick. Had a lot of life left on it, but the pressure plate fingers are buggered up. My question is around the pilot bearing. I did not measure the depth of the original pilot bearing before I pulled it out with a slide hammer. The shop manual states press in depth of 11.5 - 12.25 mm (.453" - .482") and I believe that is deeper than my original bearing was recessed in. The bearing itself is 16 mm in length. My bearing and seal were against each other and the grease seal was right out at the edge of the hole.

I appreciate some feed back on what others have found and where others have put there Pilot bearing.

Thanks in advance!

I deleted your duplicate thread in DIY, since it isn't an instruction thread.

Thanks I did not see how to delete it after I realized it was in the incorrect section.

the depth is beyond the recess, not the total press in amount. the 10-12mm recess depth is so that the seal will still have room to be installed after the bearing. the seal should sit flush with the taper in the shaft once done.

basically it should look as it did before you removed everything.

technically though the seal isn't even required and the bearing could be installed from flush to pressed all the way into the shaft, though this makes it difficult to remove when needed.

My mistake, I did not mention that my engine was replaced 15,000 miles ago (3 years ago), so the pilot bearing was not actually the original. Just wanting to understand what others have seen or done. I am going with pressing it in so the seal is at the edge of the taper while touching the pilot bearing.

You dont want to seat it all the way in so you can get a puller behind it. I measured my seal thickness. Then put some tape around a socket at that depth. And used that to sink my bearing just deep enough that the seal sits flush.