Pilot bearing 69 440, brass, steel, roller, Mopar, Ram, huh?

[R6red4spd69RT]

Hey everyone,

I recently rebuilt my A-833 and I'm ready to get my ride back together. I'm really not clear on the possibility of installing a roller pilot bearing that would be replacing the the original OEM style brass "bushing". I was told it's possible.

This isn't a conversion, this is an original 69 440/4spd car.

Right now my options are, a Mopar brass bearing, a Ram (what appears to be) steel bearing, and maybe a roller bearing made for a newer mopar that happens to fit my application.

Is there a roller bearing out there?

And what about the short brass bearing vs the taller steel one. I've been told "use brass over steel" though the steel bearing looks beefier.

Does any of this matter?

Thanks guys,
Bob

[Chatt69chgr]

I would use the brass bushing.  Is that steel bushing really steel?  If so, wouldn't steel on steel end up galling the input shaft?   You would think that a roller bearing would be better, but, if it siezes, then it ends up messing up the input shaft to the transmission.  That's what the guy at Brewer's told me.  He recommended the brass bushing.

In my case, I had a steel crank out of a 69 with auto tran.  It was drilled but not reamed.  My machinist was supposed to ream it.  He didn't.  The undersize bushing is real hard to find and may not fit even if you do find one.  So I am using the pilot bushing that fits in the converter hub.  Got it from Brewers Performance.  Not part of what you asked but thought I would throw it in for the benefit of others.

[R6red4spd69RT]

Update,

Well, after talking with Summit Racing I realized I mistakenly wrote brass when it is actually bronze. They said the Ram bearing is bronze even though it appears much lighter than the Mopar bearing. The tech guy I spoke with highly recommended using the bushing type bearing.

Todd at Moparts Connection is going to give me a call back on whether or not there's a Mopar roller bearing out there. I'll see what he recommends if there is one available.

[John_Kunkel]

The only roller bearing that I know of fits in the converter register, not in the pilot bore of the crank. A bushing will always carry more load than a roller bearing, stay with the bushing.

[tan top]

could always measure what size you need ! contact a bearing specialist , i know  alot if not all manual trans cars have roller bearings  

http://www.timken.com/en-us/Pages/Home.aspx

[R6red4spd69RT]

One of the reasons I was looking into using a roller bearing is because the old pilot bearing had drifted up the input shaft to where only the very edge of the bearing was contacting the outer rim of the pilot hole!

Luckily there doesn't appear to be any damage.

I'll probably end up using the Ram bearing, it seems as though a longer bearing would be better.

[Chatt69chgr]

When I said brass bushing, I really meant bronze.  Sorry about that.