HELP- Vibration after Throwoutbearing replacement

JJ95GTID said:

On second thought, moving the clutch fork won't tell you if the input shaft is loose cause it rides on the throughout bearing which slides on the steel input shaft retainer 'tube'.

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If you put the clutch in, the input shaft stops spinning - just like if the transmission is in neutral. The vibration on snoozer's car does not stop when you put the clutch in (when the input shaft is stationary), so it's not the input shaft.

Snoozer, man I sure hope you didn't already bend the shaft. If you drove it any bit hard, I'd bet you did. Tell them it has NOTHING to do with the clutch, flywheel, etc. It comes from someone screwing up putting the trans back in an knocking the bearing out. This is done by either not supporting the tranny until its all the way in, or if they couldn't get it all the way in as mentioned above and used the bolts to suck it in the rest of the way they could have knocked it out. Usually the tranny will go in 90% of the way and get sort of stuck for the last 3/4" or so. At this point you MUST push the clutch in and out and usually the tranny will pop right in, if they didn't do this and forced it or sucked it in then that is what caused your problem. Make sure you tell them that if the tranny still vibrates AFTER they are done with it they are responsible for repairing the damage to the trans, and more than likely you will have a bent input shaft and possibly a main shaft as well. Best of luck, I know what you are feeling right now, only i screwed up and did it myself. If I had paid someone to do the job right and they did this I'd be MAJORLY PISSED!

95snoozer said:

he said there it was impossible to push the pilot bearing in, AND he kept calling it a pilot BUSHING, i kept correcting him and telling him that IS NOT what i said. I told him i understand its his place to play CYA, but his shop ***d it up, they are gonna have to replace it. he was very childish and ignorant and was cussing the whole time. this is the Owner of the shop

when he pulled the tranny there were left over ball bearings in the bell housing!!!! he is saying there might be some in the clutch. well probably!!! just 1 would throw it off balance.

they are saying i told them not to look at the clutch pressure plate or flywheel. WTF? why would i say that? they pulled the tranny and called me, i assumed they pulled the bell housing. I asked them if they had checked out the clutch because io had been worried about the condition of it since the bearing had gone out they said it was good and it would be ready in the afternoon

after a few hours of arguing the owner pulled the tranny and is redoing the job the way it should have originally be done

any ideas how i can keep them form putting a lean on my car for teh bill since i am NOT paying for them to do the job right the second time around?

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It's hard to push a pilot bearing if you install the transmission correctly. If you force the bellhousing onto the block with the bolts - whether by hand or impact - you can **** up the pilot bearing. If you hit it at an angle with the input shaft, you could possibly tweak the inner race. I wouldn't say you could push the pilot bearing in because you can't. If you did, your transmission would be ****ed hardcore. The input shaft fits so loosely onto the main shaft that if there were no pilot bearing at all, the input shaft would be buoncing all over the damn place. You would have a lot more than a vibration.

Odds are the pilot bearing is ****ed. Old timers call them pilot bushings because they used to be bushings before the now-standard needle bearings.

The only place where parts of a pilot bearing could be in a clutch, without complete destruction, is in the dampener springs of the clutch disc. It's possible but unlikely. If there were an imbalanced clutch, you would not feel it with the clutch pedal in - when the pressure plate has released the clutch from the flywheel.

If you don't want them putting a lein on the car for not paying the bill, pay the bill. Or make sure you have proof that it will be no charge. Get a repair order... Errr, you should have gotten a repair order that very plainly stated that it was NC. Repair orders are legal documents and can be used in court.

I have vibration problems myself. I installed a brand new spec stage 2 clutch kit and flywheel. I also did the pilot bearing and rear main seal that everyone recommended too. This was my first clutch install too by the way. After the install my car vibrated something horrible. I followed 4 different install guides so I don't know how I could of missed anything. So I drove it for 1000mi hoping that the clutch was going to finally 'break in' like people have told me. Well after the break in time I started to realize it wasn't going to fix it's self. So I bought another clutch kit and another flywheel and did the install again. Took everything back apart. I inspected the pilot bearing and there were no signs of damage. I made sure it was seated properly. Triple checked everything. The car is 100mi away from break in time. And while it's a lot better then last time it still has a small vibration around 2500-3000rpms. I haven't taken it near 5000 yet but a few times near it and it feels really weird. Who knows anymore? I figure i'll just live with it, and if something breaks i'll finally figure out what it is. BTW, I suspected it was my balancer and I also replaced that too, and of course that wasn't the problem. Maybee someday I'll eventually find out because I give up for good. Installing a clutch is the worst thing I have ever done. I've spent near or over 1 grand on everything.

Let us know what the problem was. I just did a tranny swap on my mustang and I'm having similar problems.

Hurry up and call D&D or some other 5 speed tranny specialist and ask them if there is a way to check the input shaft of the tranny without removing it. Maybe you could put a dial indicator mounted on the bearing retainer (since its steel) and measure the run out of the input shaftas it goes around. I don't know how much play is allowable, but I'm sure there is a measurement out there somewhere. Maybe even try calling TTC/tremec.

Even with 30 flashlights, if you don't know what you're looking for...



What are you coming to Houston for? Call me. Maybe I can help. I might have a T5 and clutch/flywheel laying around my garage somewhere.