I think I recall reading theirs a better approach than using a pilot bearing for a 4 speed crank. What is it?

Some would like you to believe that but there isn't. The only time there is anything turning in that pilot bushing is when you disengage the clutch. Unless you're driving a tight road coarse you could count the total time per daily use in minutes. So even if there were something "better", why would you need it !!!

I'll second the bronze bushing over a needle roller brg. Just be sure the bushing is not magnetic. Lately, junk bushings have replaced bronze, which was the gold standard for years.

Mopar didn't start using pilot bearings until the late 1990, maybe 1996 in the L.A. motors
They and most of the other car and engine makers used pilot bushings up until they switch to the bearings

As mentioned, the only time the input shaft rotates in the pilot bushing is when the clutch is depressed. I guess a pilot bearing would be better, but the hole in a mopar crank is not really big enough. And a lot of mopar cranks do not even have the right size hole for a standard bushing, you have to turn down a regular one, or they do make the reduce diameter ones. But any transmission that has a ball bearing on the input shaft ion the transmission has to have some support, like a bushing or bearing, if you have a newer style transmission with preloaded tapered roller bearing you can actually get away with not having a bushing or bearing for the input shaft in the crankshaft. A ball bearing does not take side loads like the weight of the clutch disc very well.

I put the roller bearing in my dad's 440-6 road runner in 2007. No problems w/ it.

https://board.moparts.org/ubbthread...ead/Board/1/main/104141/type/thread.html

Joe