The rattling noise coming from my Bis engine, hence my reason for pulling it, appears to have been coming from the bellhousing. The clutch was slipping and juddering – nothing new there for an old 126.
It appears that the bronze bushin the back of the release bearing sleeve had worked it self loose, rattling on the input shaft, allowing the input shaft to wiggle about and destroy the crank bearing.
This what the bearing should look like.
The input shaft is held by a splined sleeve at the gearbox end and this does have some play in it so the input shaft is supported mainly by this bush, obviously the crank end bearing isn’t enough on its own. This wiggling also damaged the oil seal so the bell housing was full of oil.
The release bearing sleeve is fairly easy to remove from the bell housing after the clutch release bearing is out of the way, the seals and bushes are quite cheap, or you can get the whole unit.
The crank bearing is a *** to remove as it is pressed into the end, in my case I am going to have to get a machine shop to drill it out.
So, it is worth checking the condition of the bronze bush and seal next clutch changing time.
