Question on throwing bearing grease 69 350/350 4spd

[Michael L.]

Guys,

i just got the motor/tranny lowered onto the chassis and I realize now I forgot to grease the throw out bearing at the manual instructs. Since it's just a rolling chassis I can get a pretty good view of the bearing thru the clutch fork opening in the bell housing and I think I can reach the input shaft with a small paint brush and get some grease on the bearing but definitely not the even coating that I could do with it disassembled. How critical is this? I prefer to not have to pull the motor/tranny to disassemble it but I will of course if I have to. Appreciate any guidance you guys can give.

Mike

[Gary R.]

Re: Question on throwing bearing grease 69 350/350 4spd

Mike there is a groove on the ID of the bearing to fill with grease. It will be a lot easier to do this now without the body on the car. If it was me, I would pull it and grease it- but I am real anal with working on these cars.

[Michael L.]

Re: Question on throwing bearing grease 69 350/350 4spd

Thanks Gary. What about some type of grease available as a spray? I'm sure I could get a nice coat of grease in there that way. Of course it would be ideal if I could fill the groove but maybe the spray idea would be sufficient? I would think that if I spray grease into the space between the shaft housing and the TO bearing and then ride the bearing up and down a bunch the groove will fill with grease don't you think? As you can tell I'm really trying to not have to pull the motor/tranny, but will if I must.

Mike

[Gary R.]

Re: Question on throwing bearing grease 69 350/350 4spd

Mike
The spray greases may not last as a real old type grease you pack into the groove. The bearing slides on the retainer, once it's in place you can't get at it so you want to know the grease you use is going to last a long time, till the next clutch change which on a car that might not see 1000 miles a year will be about 50 years or more. The retainer on the trans should be smooth, no ridge or steps in it, they do break at times.

[Michael L.]

Re: Question on throwing bearing grease 69 350/350 4spd

Thanks Gary. What type of grease do you recommend?

[Gary R.]

Re: Question on throwing bearing grease 69 350/350 4spd

I have used a moly grease there but others here may have other recommendations. The moly grease is pasty and won't run out.

[Michael L.]

Re: Question on throwing bearing grease 69 350/350 4spd

Well after speaking to a number of guys both here and elsewhere I had decided I wasn't going to pull the motor and that I would just apply the grease with a paint brush. I taped a small paint brush to the end of my longest extension and was getting set to apply the grease when I noticed something didn't seem quite right with the throw-out bearing. A closer look confirmed my suspicion. I had installed the bearing backward!!!! That certainly made the decision to pull the motor/trans easier! I pulled it, disassembled, and applied the grease as the manual instructed and then assembled it correctly. After all my hand wringing over this decision it wound up taking about 45min to do the entire job. I definitely spent way more time than that wrestling with whether or not to pull the damn thing. Lesson learned.

Mike

[Gary R.]

Re: Question on throwing bearing grease 69 350/350 4spd

Good, now you know it correct and can move on