This is for a Pantera project that I received in February and what you see in the third photo above is the pilot bushing that came with the car. The pilot bushing looks tired to me and needs to be replaced. Also, I don't like the wear pattern on the input shaft. Since I have to replace the pilot bushing, I'm going with a seemingly good solution. I have had six Panteras and each one got a pilot needle bearing. The only issue I have had is damaging an original Ford pilot needle bearing when putting the transaxle back into my white push button Pantera because I had incorrect alignment of the engine/trans. Push buttons have a different size spacer for the pilot needle bearing making that mishap a little more of an adventure to resolve.
Here is a photo of the ZF input shaft on this current project car. I don't think it is damaged but my other Panteras that all had pilot needle bearings seem to have healthier looking snouts on the ZF compared to this one.
