Date:         Mon, 1 Apr 1996 16:11:27 PDT
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Shawn Wright" <SW@smus.bc.ca>
Subject:      What's a Pilot Bearing? ('88)

Tim (I think) mentioned a pilot bearing as being source of noise in 
the Vanagon trans, but I'm not sure what this is, in Bentley terms. 
I've heard it before, but never really knew what it meant, as my 
experience with trannnies is limited to basic clutch replacements.

I'm really curious now, after going through the receipts again on my
new '88 last night. (Now that I'm a bit more familiar with stuff, and
can see what may need repair). I found that the clutch disc, throwout 
bearing, and pilot bearing were replaced at some shop in Fla. at 
205,000km. Then at 250,000, the clutch disc & pilot bearing were 
*again* replaced by the VW dealer in Toronto, with a note on the w/o 
saying the trans mainshaft was damaged, but still usuable. This 
sounds to me like the shop in Fla may have screwed up something to 
cause the damage, since the trans was *new* at 165K (along with a new 
clutch also).

This also seems odd - only 40-50K kms on a clutch disc?? Indications 
are that the PO carried a boat on top and probably lots of other 
junk, but it still sounds strange to me. What's 'normal' for a 
Vanagon clutch?

Shawn
'88 Westy 322k (Kyra)
'85 Jetta TD 341k (Jenni)