Pilot bushing hijinx

Reamed out a Chevy pilot bushing for my T90/T86 case trans, it went in a little hard, checked my fit, sanded a little, slipped the shaft in to make sure and it fit real nice, maybe towards the tight side but it would slip in and didn't feel bound in any way. After about 2K miles the bushing starts chirping about 50 miles from home, lots of corners and shifting, gets worse fast for about ten miles, lets out a big SQWANK and it's gone, clutch works sweet for another 1500 miles and does it again, but this time it really threw a fit over the course of 20 miles, when I pulled into the shed the bushing was just screaming, that kind of noise that leaves no doubt that you ARE pulling the trans out again before you go anywhere! Was sort of in the way so I fired it up the next morning, clutched it, dropped into gear and nothing, silent. Went out and drove around for 10 or 12 miles and it's just as nice as pie! :? Used it tonight for just a couple miles, nice and smooth. What do you guys think? I would hate to gall up my new input shaft but that may be too late already, and as soon as it's little fit is over it is awful hard to talk myself into tearing it apart.-----Rained good last night so I used it this morning to get out to an irrigation well, not a peep?????

 

bushing just made it's own clearance.. Yeah I would say you need to remove and inspect, you may have galled up the pilot journal.

 

Did it only make the squeal when you pushed in the clutch pedal? If so, it's likely the pilot bushing. If not, it's something else. Mine squealed on occasion when I first did the new clutch. Eventually it stopped completely. I doubt it's possible for a bronze bushing to gall a hardened input shaft. If you are not having problems shifting, I'd say just run it. Did you soak the bushing in oil before you installed it? I've seen that recommended, but I just lubed mine with white grease and called it good.

 

It is the pilot bushing, no doubt. Both times that it did it, the first time you notice it was the 3-2 downshift, which had me baffled, but then it struck me that with the non-synchro first gear that is the only time that the input shaft was spinning faster than the crankshaft, so I had it in 3rd, clutched it and shut off the engine while still rolling fast and sure enough it honked at me. Lubed it with the tube of stuff that came with the clutch kit. I've done plenty of failed pilot bushings, but never one that didn't continue to get worse. Had I not witnessed it's little fit, shifting, clutching, driving it now I would argue that there is nothing wrong all day long. Until it's next fit. An unrelated bushing story, I spun a rod bearing in my GTX on my 24th birthday. A good friend had just rolled his RoadRunner with a fresh engine rebuild so I bought his car and tossed the engine and trans, in one piece, into my GTX. A couple weeks later I was pretty excited and turning the 383 hard, went to yank it into second and the clutch went bananas, bad pilot bushing sounds, hard shifting. I knew Greg put a brand new crankshaft in the 383, so I called him and asked if he put a new or used bushing in the end of the crank and he replies "What bushing"!!!