I just installed a newceterforce dual friction clutch on my 1969 Roadrunner. The old cluch was abused and over used

I installed a bearing style pilot bearing, instead of the normal brass bushing while I was there. Now when attempting to put the tranny back in I am having trouble lining up the input shaft housing with the back of the bell housing. I can get the spines lines up and the tranny slides in up to the bell housing. I cant get it to fall in to the back of the bell housing. Believe me i was twisting it and moving it around but no luck. I have installed the tranny before and realize it can be a fight.

I am just not sure if the bearing style pilot bearing is not giving me the same wiggle room.

I will be back at it this afternoon. Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks
Dean

The splines of the input shaft might be hitting the bushing since it is now closer to the trans an the one installed in the hollow of the crank. Another thing to try is once you ve it that far try to depress the clutch , either linkage connected and have someone push in the pedal or a pry bar on the fork , if the disc is a little off it might be binding.

The other is if the engine and trans are not factory original to each other you might have too much runout which is being made worse because you have a tighter fitting bearing closer to the bellhousing. I just discovered that the engine and bellhousing are machined as a unit originally so swapping parts can cause a runout issue.

Good points, thank you.

The tranny and bellhousing are what I had in there previously.

Excuse my ignorance but what do you mean by runout?

Thanks again

Runout is the difference in centerlines between the crank and the hole in the bellhousing that locates the trans. The factory bored the main line and the bellhousing when the engine and bellhousing were original machined as a unit bolted together , swap the bellhousing to another engine and there is no guarantee that the trans mission will be located together properly, worn front bearing and hard getting the 2 mated .

Like John RR said, except you can eliminate your runout by adjusting your bell housing using offset dowell pins (a necessary step when installing a Tremec). There's a procedure and image in the FSM for measuring runout. It's not hard but is abit time consuming.

Thank you John for the explaination. I will try to measure it, but I think the main "problem" is the new bearing pilot bearing. It just doesnt give me the same wiggle room. I appreciate the advice and will check it. I will let you know how it goes. I will keep checking in for any other ideas.

I have installed many factory four speeds with new pilot bushings, none of them had much wiggle room when using a spare input shaft to align the clutch disc I would look at the new bearing depth and spline length Is the front bearing retainer going into the bellhousing hole at all or is it stopped before getting that close?

the front bearing retainer is against the back of the bell housing just not lining up with the bell housing.

Try loosening(don't forget to tighten them up before using )the pressure plate bolts up so you can move the clutch disc with the trans input shaft to see if it is off center. Make sure and check the bellhousing alignment with the crankshaft center also, it may be two different things goofing you up now

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the front bearing retainer is against the back of the bell housing just not lining up with the bell housing.

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If its in that far the the shaft has to be in the pilot bearing by now.

The disk must not be centered. Hook up all the linkage and have someone depress the clutch while you line up the trans.

Get yourself 2 or 4 LONG bolts of the same size that bolt the trans to the bellhousing. Cut off the heads and file slots in each that will take a screwdriver. Screw them into the bellhousing and use them to both support and align the front of the trans (DO NOT "hang" the whole tranny on them). Once the trans is in replace one at a time with the proper bolts.

It could be possible you have the wrong throw-out bearing, (too long), and you are actually trying to depress the pressure plate fingers as you put the tranny in. I agree with others that if the tranny is in far enough that the bearing retainer is hitting the back of the bell housing, you are in the pilot bushing. Do not ask how I know about the wrong throw our bearing. To check on the throw out bearing, put it in the clutch fork and hold it against the pressure plate fingers, see how close it is to the register hole in the bell housing, or use a small tape line and stick it through the center of the clutch disc and measure to the back of the throw out bearing, then measure back along the input shaft.bearing retainer and see if there is any interference, (like maybe you're close to the "step" where the machining stops on the bearing retainer where the throw out bearing rides). One other thing to check is for a "ridge" on the end of the input shaft that might be hanging on the pilot bushing. You do not want to know how I helped a "friend" find out about that one either. If you used an old input shaft to line up the clutch disc when you bolted down the pressure plate, and having the tranny in as far as you say, I'm not sure I would try the shot of pushing in the clutch to free up the clutch disc, (only as a last resort). If you try that, be ready, sometimes the throw out bearing can bind on the retainer and you will push the tranny back out, and those 833's are heavy. Good luck.

"IF YOU'RE UNDER CONTROL, YOU AIN'T GOING FAST ENOUGH."

can you guys help me, I am doing a 4 speed conversion on a 70 dart swinger and I went to put the trans up, and it went in fine but there is like an 1/8 gap between bellhousing and trans. everything is aligned I took it down 3-4 times and it still isn't going in all the way, any suggestions please?? I need help. thank you.

A few things can cause this... Did you press the pilot bushing in deep enough? Are you sure that the bearing collar on the front of the trans is the same size as the hole in the bell housing?
In some cases, once you get the trans as far in as you have, you can put the trans IN GEAR. Get a pal to wiggle the trans while you try to spin the output shaft either with the drive shaft or a spare yoke. I've had situations where I have messed with something for an hour and one simple move puts me where I wanted to be. Good Luck and welcome to the site!

thank you for the advice! the bearing collar is the same size as the bellhousing hole I made sure of that, but I will definitely try what you said when I get out of school, thank you!

just a brass bushing

I got it machined to fit in the crank fits snug now