Reply to "transmission bronze oil lite pilot bushing"

Like everything else, pilot bushings/bearings can be done wrong. Roller bearings have in fact eaten the nose of $2500 ZF clutch input shafts. They are not repairable. The bearing (or bushing) must live in an extremely inhospitable area on the end of the crank, with intermittent high loads & vibration, no lube beyond whats there at installation, heat and abrasive debris from clutch disc wear.

With pilot bushings, there are THREE different Oilite materials possible at chain auto parts stores. Due to the cost of copper in recent years, some 'Oilite' has so much iron filings adulterating it, the 'bushings' are magnetic! Oilite SAE 841 is the good stuff; Super-Oilite (80% iron) and Super-Oilite 16 (79% iron & 1% graphite) will wear input shaft noses about as fast as a seized roller bearing; avoid them by carrying a magnet & checking before paying.

Lakewood Industries (Summit & Jegs) sells a good Oilite 841 bushing that fits ZF input shaft noses, but being intended for Chevy cranks is too small for the huge hole in a Cleveland crank. So I make a 3/4" thick aluminum adapter that press-fits in a 351-C crank and takes a Chev bushing. Been in our engine for over 10 years with zero problems.