First I had trouble getting a pilot bushing from eagle- the stock bushing for a 360 didn't fit my 4" crank and the first tech I talked to at eagle said sorry, better call a machine shop! Then I found out that eagle makes a bushing with a bigger outside diameter to fit their crank. Why didn't the tech dept. know that?

After I got it and put it in I thought it should be harder to install than it was like maybe a light press fit or whatever? Fast foreward a month or so-I had just gotten some good progress on my new build, the brakes and suspension are getting sorted, and the motor was getting close, when I started to get a whirring and screaching when the clutch pedal was pressed. I didn't know what it was, but I figured either pilot or throwout. I did know I had to pull the trans.
The lakewood bell is a m/f to pull without taking the motor out but today I got it off with a little help from a buddy. It looks like the pilot bearing backed out of the crank and got stuck inbetween the crank and the clutch disc? one side of it was whittled and there was some debris in the crank pocket.

I think I might go with the late model roller bearing from a magnum truck or whatever I gotta tell the parts idiot at the store. That should work as long as I don't smash it with the input shaft on re-assembly, right? Probably just tap it into the torque converter pocket in the crank?

I do not want to spend another whole day wrestling with a transmission to access a twenty dollar part!

Anybody else had trouble with these? I heard some people knurl them to get a tight fit? I don't have a lathe. Red loctite on the o/d of the bushing before 'pressing' it in?

Thanks
Kevin